South Carolina Humanities is pleased to announce the 2021 recipients of the Governor’s Awards in the Humanities and the Fresh Voices in the Humanities Awards. Established in 1991, the Governor’s Awards celebrate the Palmetto State’s most ambitious humanities academics and advocates. SC Humanities recently introduced the Fresh Voices in the Humanities Awards as a way to recognize innovative individuals who use culture and history to bring people together, but whose efforts may have gone relatively unnoticed beyond their own community.
The 2021 recipients of the Governor’s Awards in the Humanities are Michael Allen, National Park Ranger for the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor; Jannie Harriot, chairperson and charter member of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission; Simon Lewis, Director of the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World program at the College of Charleston; and The Rice Museum, a museum chronicling the history of rice cultivation in Georgetown County.
The 2021 recipients of the Fresh Voices in the Humanities Awards are Dr. Lydia Brandt, Associate Professor of architecture, American art, and theories and methods of historic preservation at the University of South Carolina; Tamara Herring, Executive Director of the Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage; The Rev. Christopher B. Thomas, Director of the Benjamin E. Mays Historical Preservation Site; and Dr. Kasie Whitener, novelist, business owner, and instructor at the University of South Carolina.
The Governor’s Awards in the Humanities will be recorded and live-streamed on YouTube. To attend the live event virtually, visit the SC Humanities YouTube channel on Thursday, October 21 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. Join our email list to receive a virtual event program and YouTube link on the day of the event.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.
