Johnnetta B. Cole ’57 Honored by National Endowment for the Humanities

Distinguished anthropologist and educator Johnnetta B. Cole ’57 was one of 12 recipients of the 2021 National Humanities Medal. Cole received the honor from President Joe Biden in a March 21 ceremony at the White House.

The National Humanities Medal “honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history or literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources,” the White House noted in a press release, adding that Cole was awarded because her “pioneering work about the ongoing contributions of Afro-Latin, Caribbean, and African communities has advanced American understanding of Black culture and the necessity and power of racial inclusion in our nation.”

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Cole enrolled at Fisk College at age 15, but transferred to Oberlin a year later, joining her sister, music student MaVynee Betsch ’55. A cultural anthropology class ultimately sparked a career change—initially she wanted to be a pediatrician—and steered the rest of her professional life.

After graduating with a degree in sociology, Cole went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in anthropology from Northwestern University, making her one of the first Black women to earn a PhD in the field. She taught at Washington State University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Hunter College in New York City.

In 1987, Cole became the first Black woman to serve as president of Spelman College, a historically black, all-female college in Atlanta. She later assumed the role of Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women’s Studies, and African American Studies at Emory University before becoming president of Bennett College in 2002.

In 2009, she became director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. “To bring the experience of art into one’s life,” she said in her White House profile for the National Humanities Medal, “is to become entangled in, maybe to fall in love with, human creativity.”