Music artist and actress Queen Latifah is among the honorees being recognized by Harvard University in 2019 for their contributions to black history and culture. Harvard is set to award the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal to Queen Latifah and six other recipients on October 22, 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.

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Latifah's recent engagements

Queen Latifah hosted the Women’s Achieve Summit this week in Richmond, Virginia. The Tuesday summit will coincide with the 400th anniversary of the recruitment of English women in significant numbers in the Virginia colony. In November 1619, 147 English women were recruited to join Jamestown’s male settlers. The summit will feature notable female business leaders, politicians, and activists who will honor 400 years of women’s achievements.

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Queen Latifah didn't accept the Marian Anderson Award in 2018

On October 12, 2018, Queen Latifah said that she is “unable to accept” an award named for a pioneering opera singer, citing personal reasons. The Marian Anderson Award made the announcement on its website. The organization wasn’t more explicit, and Queen Latifah’s spokeswoman did not immediately return an email on Friday. The award is given in Philadelphia to critically acclaimed artists for their humanitarian work. Anderson was the first black singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. Past winners have included Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, and Quincy Jones. Born Dana Owens, Queen Latifah won a Grammy for her 1994 album “Black Reign” and earned an Oscar nomination for her role in 2002′s “Chicago.” The organization says its Nov. 20 awards gala will be rescheduled, and it “hopes to honor Queen Latifah in the future.”

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