Duke professor to receive National Humanities Medal

Anne Firor Scott, W.K. Boyd Professor of History Emerita, will receive a National Humanities Medal today.

Scott will be presented the medal by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony this afternoon. A recipient for her work "pioneering the study of Southern women," Scott taught in Duke's history department from 1961 to 1991 and was the department's first female chair.

Scott is one of five academic award winners that will be honored at today's ceremony. The others are M.H. Abrams, a Cornell University literary critic; David Brion Davis, a Yale University historian; William Theodore de Bary, an East Asian scholar at Columbia University; and Darlene Clark Hine, a Northwestern University historian.

Known in particular for her 1970 book "The Southern Lady: From Pedestal to Politics, 1830-1930," Scott has received many notable achievements over the course of her career—including being appointed to the Citizens Advisory Council on the Status of Women by President Lyndon B. Johnson and serving as president of the Organization of American Historians.

The National Humanities Medal is given annually to those who have "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans' access to important resources in the humanities," according to the White House description of the award.

Watch a live stream of the award ceremony here, beginning at 3:00 PM.