RELATED: These Latinos Were Honored with National Medals for Art, Humanities The novel’s honest representation of the way differences in values and beliefs can test families and communities has secured its appeal over the years, since change is an ever-present struggle. Guiding him through this education is Ultima, a curandera, or healer, in the final days of her life. US President Barack Obama presents author Rudolfo Anaya with the 2015 National Humanities Medal during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, September 22, 2016. This novel examines the dramatic cultural shifts that took place during that period as seen through the eyes of a schoolboy who is only beginning to understand the world outside his home. 'Bless Me, Ultima,' first published in 1972, is set in the New Mexico town of Guadalupe just after WW II.
