Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has received the highest honour of Harvard University, the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal.
The W.E.B Du Bois medal has not been awarded to anyone since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is the highest honor given by Harvard in the field of African and African American studies.
Chimamanda is known for her elegant storytelling and her advocacy for gender equality. She was also a speaker at the Harvard College Class Day in 2018 and was previously a Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow between 2011 and 2012.
Dubois was the first African-American to earn a Harvard PhD, in 1895. Past recipients of the medal included scholars, artists, writers, journalists, philanthropists, and public servants.
Other recipients include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Laverne Cox, Agnes Guns, Raymond J McGuire, Deval Patrick and Betye Saar.
The medal allows her to join the list of trailblazers like Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Ava Duvernay, Dave Chappelle, Queen Latifah, Nasir “Nas” Jones, John Lewis, Steven Spielberg, athlete-activist Colin Kaepernick, and others who are past recipients of the medal.
RN