World-renowned Nigerian-born writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, was awarded Harvard University’s highest honour, the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, at a ceremony on Thursday.

The W. E. B. Du Bois Medal which is Harvard’s highest honour in the field of African and African American studies is often awarded to individuals in the United States and across the globe in recognition of their contributions to African and African American culture.

According to the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, the medal is for people, “who embody the values of commitment and resolve that are fundamental to the Black experience in America”.

Other recipients include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Laverne Cox, Agnes Guns, Raymond J McGuire, Deval Patrick and Betye Saar.

In an official statement, the Director of the Hutchins Center, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., said the 2022 honourees represent an “unyielding commitment to pushing the boundaries of representation and creating opportunities for advancement and participation for people who have been too often shut out from the great promise of our times.”

Dubois was the first African-American to earn a Harvard Ph.D. in 1895. Past recipients of the medal have included scholars, artists, writers, journalists, philanthropists, and public servants.