Queen Latifah receives the W.E.B. Dubois Medal for her contributions to black history and culture.

Music artist and actress Queen Latifah was among the honorees recognized by Harvard University for their contributions to black history and culture.

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Queen Latifah applauds alongside billionaire businessman Robert F. Smith during a ceremony at Harvard University.

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.

Queen Latifah shouts during her speech as Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. listens.

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.

Associated Press