CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) – Oprah Winfrey and songwriter Harry Belafonte are among those honoured at Harvard University for their contributions to African-American culture.
Winfrey also accepted a posthumous award at today’s ceremony for poet Maya Angelou, who died earlier this year.
The university’s Hutchins Centre for African and African American Research presented its annual W.E.B. Du Bois Medals to eight honourees, including British architect David Adjaye, Congressman John Lewis, 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen, Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes and movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
The medal has been awarded since 2000 and is Harvard’s highest honour in the field of African and African American Studies.
Du Bois was a Massachusetts native and Harvard graduate and scholar who founded the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.
