Chicago's "Everyman"
In 1997, Terkel received the National Humanities Medal and National Medal of Arts with a group of luminaries that included actors Jason Robards and Angela Lansbury and conductor James Levine.
An opinionated and caring man of the people, Studs Terkel passed away at the age of 96. His unique ability to believe in the decency of humanity and capture the hope of America through its oral history is unparalleled. Terkel, believing that the stories of the “non celebrated” inspired hope once said, “I think it’s realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: ‘I despair. The world’s no good.’ That’s a perverse idealist. It’s practical to hope, because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. That’s very realistic.”
