Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead began her long career in anthropology as an undergraduate at Barnard College under the tutelage of Franz Boas, recognized as the father of American anthropology.
At the age of 25, she spent a year as a National Research Council fellow in Pago Pago where she studied cultural concepts of adolescence. In doing do, Mead was the first anthropologist to look at human development in a cross- cultural perspective. The result was her widely acclaimed first book, “Coming of Age in Samoa.”
She earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University and joined the American Museum of Natural History as an assistant curator of ethnology in 1926. She rose through the ranks at the museum and was appointed curator emerita in 1969.
In addition to her duties at the museum, Mead served at the National Research Council and as a professor at several universities, including Columbia, New York University and Yale. In 1965, she founded the Urban Anthropology Department at NYU, and in 1968, she founded an anthropology department at Fordham University. She was named “Mother of the World” by Time magazine in 1969.
Mead spent many years living with various South Seas peoples, during which time she learned seven indigenous languages. When not abroad, she wrote numerous monographs, narrated several films, and wrote a myriad of books. She was well- known for her clear writing style, allowing laypeople to both comprehend and enjoy the information she learned from her research. She authored more than 20 books including “Growing Up in New Guinea,” “Soviet Attitudes Toward Authority,” “An Anthropologist at Work” and “Peoples and Places.”
She died in 1978 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.
BLACKWELL RECIPIENTS
May 16, 2021
Librarian of Congress Carla HaydenFebruary 3, 2021
Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgJanuary 22, 2015
Dr. Janet L. YellenNovember 10, 2013
The Most Reverend Doctor Katharine Jefferts SchoriOctober 27, 2011
Eunice Kennedy Shriver-
April 23, 2009
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand -
April 24, 2008
Dr. Wangari Maathai Sc.D.'94, P '94, P '96 -
April 27, 2007
Dr. Priscilla A. Schaffer '64, Sc.D. '94 -
September 7, 2004
Bishop Barbara Clementine Harris September 9, 2003
Loretta C. FordSeptember 4, 2001
Madeleine K. AlbrightMay 15, 1998
Billie Jean KingFebruary 10, 1996
Wilma MankillerSeptember 23, 1993
Barbara JordanSeptember 27, 1991
Margaret Chase SmithFebruary 22, 1991
Dr. Antonia C. NovelloFebruary 19, 1988
Barbara Aronstein BlackOctober 9, 1985
Cicely SaundersMarch 8, 1985
Sandra Day O’ConnorFebruary 11, 1984
Hannah Holborn GrayFebruary 26, 1982
Agnes George de MilleFebruary 15, 1980
Mary Douglas LeakeySeptember 30, 1977
Mary S. CalderoneOctober 3, 1975
Antonia BricoJanurary 23, 1974
Frances Keller HardingMay 28, 1973
Judith Graham PoolJune 8, 1972
Marian AndersonApril 10, 1972
Mary LaskerJune 13, 1971
Mina ReesJune 14, 1970
Helen Brooke TaussigJune 15, 1969
Georgiana SibleyJune 16, 1968
Constance Baker MotleySeptember 8, 1967
Catharine MacfarlaneJuly 10, 1966
Fe del MundoJune 13, 1965
Annette LeMeitour-KaplunJune 14, 1964
Margaret MeadJune 9, 1963
Marty MannJune 10, 1962
Frances PerkinsJune 18,1961
Leona BaumgartnerJune 12, 1960
Miki SawadaJune 14, 1959
Elisabeth Luce MooreSeptember 27, 1958
Gwendolyn Grant Mellon