Charlayne Hunter-Gault named to National Academy of Arts and Sciences

Charlene Hunter Gault Description: Charlayne Hunter-Gault meets with students at Grady College's WNGC studio to talk about her involvement in the civil rights movement as the first african-american admitted to UGA, and her life as a journalist. Date of Photo: 3/22/2011 Credit: Paul Efland, University of Georgia Photographic Services File: 27557-043 The University of Georgia owns the rights to this image or has permission to redistribute this image. Permission to use this image is granted for internal UGA publications and promotions and for a one-time use for news purposes. Separate permission and payment of a fee is required to use any image for any other purpose, including but not limited to, commercial, advertising or illustrative purposes. Unauthorized use of any of these copyrighted photographs is unlawful and may subject the user to civil and criminal penalties. Possession of this image signifies agreement to all the terms described above.

By Sarah Freeman, UGA Media Relations

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a Peabody and Emmy Award winning journalist, author and University of Georgia alumna, has been named to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

“I am so honored to be included in this amazing list of new members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences,” Hunter-Gault said. “But, I got here thanks to the shoulders I have stood on throughout my life. And I honor each and every one of them, for there were many.”

Hunter-Gault was one of eight members inducted in the Journalism, Media, and Communications section of the honorary society. The nearly 270 members elected to the Academy in 2023 are selected from academia, the arts, industry, policy, research and science and include more than 40 International Honorary Members from 23 countries. Joining Hunter-Gault in this year’s class are biochemist and geneticist Emmanuelle Charpentier; songwriter, actor, director, producer Lin-Manuel Miranda; and political scientist Daniel Ziblatt of Harvard University.

“With the election of these members, the Academy is honoring excellence, innovation, and leadership and recognizing a broad array of stellar accomplishments,” said Academy President David W. Oxtoby. “We hope every new member celebrates this achievement and joins our work advancing the common good.”

Hunter-Gault along with Hamilton Holmes were the first two Black students to integrate UGA in 1961. After graduating from UGA with a degree in journalism, Hunter-Gault joined the staff of “The New Yorker,” followed by The New York Times, PBS’s “MacNeil/Lehrer Report” and what is now the “PBS NewsHour.” In 1997, she became the chief correspondent in Africa for National Public Radio. She joined CNN in 1999 as its bureau chief and correspondent in Johannesburg, South Africa, and returned to NPR as a special correspondent in 2005. Hunter-Gault has written several books including “To the Mountaintop: My Journey Through the Civil Rights Movement” and most recently, “My People: Five Decades of Writing About Black Lives,” published in October 2022.

Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together, as expressed in its charter, “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent and virtuous people.”