Governor's Awards in the Humanities - 2024

On Thursday, September 26, over 200 friends and supporters of Mass Humanities gathered at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library in Boston to celebrate the 2024 Governor’s Awards honorees: Cheryll Toney Holley, Bob Rivers, Jackie Jenkins-Scott, and Martín Espada.

Executive Director Brian Boyles shared a framework for understanding Mass Humanities’ 50 years of humanities work in the Commonwealth by unpacking the meaning of the organization’s new tagline: “Be Human.”

“As the events of the last year unfolded, I realized the question of how to be human is the one that we face,” he said. “In a time when hatred is profitable, when dehumanization is weaponized and well-resourced, we commit day in and day out to our libraries, our museums, and our cultural centers, and to the many organizations that serve immigrant communities and economically disadvantaged people. We commit to recognizing that our fellow human beings are worth fighting for, worth respecting, and worth listening to—that is a commitment we make again and again through the humanities. I’m proud to be part of an organization that has made that commitment for 50 years.”

#masshumanities #mh50 #MHGovsAwards24 #massachusettsculture #massachusettshistory #massachusettsstories #behuman