6 months ago
67
ARTICLE AD BOX
Nineteen Presidential Medals of Freedom, representing the highest civilian honour in the US, will be awarded on Friday.
The award recognizes individuals who have made contributions to culture, art, society and other areas.
This year's recipients include politicians, civil rights activists, astronauts and Olympians.
US President Joe Biden will present the awards during a White House ceremony Friday afternoon.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a current Democratic House member representing California, is included among the recipients. She has spent more than three decades in Congress.
Biden will also honour former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Vice President Al Gore and former Secretary of State John Kerry.
Several other current and former members of Congress also are included: House Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina; former US senators Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina; and deceased Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who was New Jersey's longest-serving senator.
Athletes Katie Ledecky, the most decorated female swimmer in history, and Jim Thorpe, who died in 1953 after becoming the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal, also will receive medals.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California
Biden will honour several civil rights activists like Opal Lee, who advocated for Juneteenth to become a federally recognized holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the US and became a federal holiday in 2021.
Clarence B. Jones, who helped write Dr Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, also will receive a Medal of Freedom along with Medgar Wiley Evers, who died in 1963, fought segregation in Mississippi and served in World War II.
Biden will recognize two figures for their contributions to science: Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman in space, and Jane Rigby, an astronomer and chief scientist behind the world's most powerful telescope - the James Webb Space Telescope.
Image source, Ian MacNicol
- Phil Donahue: A journalist and television producer who was the first to include audience participation in his daytime talk show.
- Michelle Yeoh: An actress who became the first Asian to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
- Gregory Boyle: A Jesuit Catholic priest who founded the world's largest gang-intervention and rehabilitation program, Homeboy Industries.
- Teresa Romero: The first Latina to become president of the United Farm Workers, a national union.
- Judy Shepard: Serves as the co-founder of an organization to honour her son who was murdered for anti-gay hate crimes.
English (US)