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Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research awarded seven individuals the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal on Tuesday for their contributions to African and African American culture.

The Du Bois Medal is considered the highest honor at Harvard in the field of African and African American Studies. This year’s recipients included James E. Clyburn, Misty D. Copeland, Marielle Franco, Brittney Y. Griner, George E. Johnson, Spike J. Lee, and Amy Sherald.

Hundreds packed into Sanders Theatre for the ceremony — including University President Alan M. Garber ’76 and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra, who read an excerpt from Du Bois’ book The Souls of Black Folk.

Franco, a human rights activist and former council member in Rio de Janeiro, is the first to receive the award posthumously in seven years. She was assassinated in 2018 by two military police officers in retaliation for her advocacy against police brutality.

Sherald, a painter and portrait artist, was selected by former First Lady Michelle L. Obama to paint her official portrait for the National Portrait Gallery. Sarah Ganz Blythe, director of the Harvard Art Museums, presented the award, praising the influence of Sherald’s work.

“Her paintings are portraits, but they are also stories,” Ganz Blythe said. “Her work captures the wonder of what it is to be a Black American.”

Glenn H. Hutchins ’77, co-founder of the Hutchins Center, presented the award to Lee, an Academy Award winner and filmmaker.

“Spike has shown us that cinema can be a conscience as well as an art form,” Hutchins said. “He’s given voice to the voiceless, centered Black experience in the American narrative, and reminded us again and again that art can be a force for justice.”

“He is not simply a filmmaker. He is also a teacher,” he added.

Griner, a Women’s National Basketball Association champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, was presented the award by Allison S. Feaster ’98, a retired WNBA player.

Griner was arrested in Russia in 2022 after authorities found cannabis oil in her luggage. She was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to nine years in prison, and was held for ten months until her release in December 2022.

“If my experience and what I’ve been able to do in my life so far — if that has changed anybody’s life or helped anybody — I'm glad what happened to me happened to me honestly,” Griner said in her acceptance speech.

“If that can help somebody or change somebody’s life, I’m here to be that vessel, and I want to encourage everybody to take on the struggle, take on the hardship,”she added.

Copeland’s award was presented by Imani Perry, a professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and African and African American Studies. Copeland, the first Black female principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, retired from her role two weeks ago.

Copeland encouraged audience members to dream big as she accepted her award Tuesday.

“Every young person who dares to dream differently, I am deeply proud to stand among you, and among all who’ve received this medal before us,” Copeland said.

“Those who remind the world again and again that grace and intellect are not separate things, but two sides of the same power,” she added.

—Staff writer Chantel A. De Jesus can be reached at chantel.dejesus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @c_a_dejesus.