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Music artist and actress Queen Latifah receives the W.E.B. Dubois Medal for her contributions to black history and culture from Glenn H. Hutchins during ceremonies at Harvard University, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Music artist and actress Queen Latifah applauds during ceremonies at Harvard University awarding the W.E.B. Dubois Medals for contributions to black history and culture, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Billionaire businessman Robert F. Smith receives the W.E.B. Dubois Medal during ceremonies at Harvard University for contributions to black history and culture, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Billionaire businessman Robert F. Smith speaks after receiving the W.E.B. Dubois Medal for contributions to black history and culture, during ceremonies at Harvard University, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Music artist and actress Queen Latifah applauds alongside billionaire businessman Robert F. Smith during ceremonies at Harvard University where they and others received W.E.B. Dubois Medals for contributions to black history and culture, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Music artist and actress Queen Latifah reacts after receiving the W.E.B. Dubois Medal for her contributions to black history and culture during ceremonies at Harvard University, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Music artist and actress Queen Latifah shouts during her speech as Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. listens after she received the W.E.B. Dubois Medal for her contributions to black history and culture during ceremonies at Harvard University, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Music artist and actress Queen Latifah fixes her hair after receiving the W.E.B. Dubois Medal for her contributions to black history and culture during ceremonies at Harvard University, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Queen Latifah to receive Harvard black culture award

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 8:29 PM ET Oct. 22, 2019

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Music artist and actress Queen Latifah was among the honorees recognized by Harvard University for their contributions to black history and culture.

Harvard awarded the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal to Queen Latifah and six other recipients on Tuesday, according to the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.

Other honorees include poet and educator Elizabeth Alexander, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie Bunch III, poet Rita Dove, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television Sheila Johnson, artist Kerry James Marshall and Robert Smith, founder, chairman and chief executive of Vista Equity Partners.

The award is named after Du Bois, a scholar, writer, editor, and civil rights pioneer who became the first black student to earn a doctorate from Harvard in 1895.