Rosita Worl, president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, an anthropologist and cultural leader, is one of 10 Americans to receive the 2023 National Humanities Medal.
Worl, 87, who is Tlingit, is a longtime leader in Alaska’s Native community, advocating for subsistence practices and promoting cultural traditions on a national level. Born in Petersburg, she has conducted research throughout Alaska, including fieldwork in the Arctic. Worl has also taught at University of Alaska Southeast.
She has a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University and an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage.
“I am honored to receive this award, but I owe a debt of gratitude to my mother, Bessie Quinto, who instilled in me that I have a responsibility to work for our people,” Worl said in a prepared statement. “She devoted her whole life as a union organizer to secure economic equity for our people, among many other things.”
The National Humanities Medal was launched in 1996, and since then 225 medals have been awarded, including 207 to individuals and 18 to organizations.
The medals were presented in a private White House ceremony on Oct. 21. Worl wore a yellow Chilkat robe to the ceremony. She stood out in a sea of blue, black and gray suits.
She has served as the president of Sealaska Heritage since 1998.
Worl served as the chair of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act National Review Committee in the early 2000s and advised revisions to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in the 1980s.
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