John Lewis Award for History Recipients
The John Lewis Award for History and Social Justice is offered annually to recognize a historian for leadership and sustained engagement at the intersection of historical work and social justice.
2021
Mary Frances Berry, University of Pennsylvania
2021 Lewis Award for History and Social Justice
Mary Frances Berry, University of Pennsylvania
Mary Frances Berry has a decades-long career as a tireless researcher, teacher, scholar, and civic activist who has advanced social justice through public service, academic leadership, and groundbreaking historical scholarship on the relationship between law and racism in America. The author of 12 books and the recipient of nearly three dozen honorary degrees, Berry pioneered several areas of academic and civic life. Over the course of nearly five decades, Berry has led and through her scholarship, publications, activism, and leadership she has changed the world, making it better for all.