The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University recently announced the seven recipients of the 2025 W. E. B. Du Bois Medal. The prestigious award is presented annually to individuals in the United States and around the world in recognition of their contributions to African and African American culture and the life of the mind.
James E. Clyburn is the U.S. representative for South Carolina’s Sixth congressional district. He has been in office since 1993 and is currently serving in his seventeenth consecutive term. Over the course of his career, he has held several prominent leadership roles within the Democratic Party, including Assistant Democratic Leader from 2011 to 2018 and 2023 to 2024, and House Majority Whip from 2019 to 2022 and 2007 to 2010, making him the first African American to serve multiple terms as Majority Whip. Currently, he serves as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development. A graduate of historically Black South Carolina State University, Congressman Clyburn has also led several efforts to preserve and restore historic buildings on HBCU campuses.
Misty Copeland is a prominent American ballet dancer and author. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in San Pedro, California, Copeland is the first-ever Black woman principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. In addition to her work as a performer, she previously served as a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition during President Obama’s second term. Copeland has launched her own philanthropic foundation, an athletic wear business, and a production company. She has authored several books, including her memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina (Touchstone, 2014). For her contributions to ballet and diversifying the art form, the University of Hartford awarded Copeland an honorary doctorate in 2014.
Marielle Franco, a Brazilian politician and human rights activist, received her W. E. B. Du Bois Medal posthumously. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1979, Franco attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio after giving birth to her daughter at age 19. As a single mother, she went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in social sciences, and later, her master’s degree in public administration from Fluminense Federal University. Among many other causes, Franco was particularly outspoken against police brutality. While driving home after speaking at a political event titled “Young Black Women Moving Structures,” Franco was shot four times in the head and killed by two unknown attackers on March 14, 2018.
Britney Griner is an activist, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a professional basketball player with the Atlanta Dream of the Women’s National Basketball Association. On February 17, 2022, Griner was detained and arrested by Russian customs after officials found vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage. Although she was legally authorized to use medicinal cannabis in her then-home state of Arizona, the substance is illegal in Russia, causing Griner to face a 10-year sentence in a Russian penal colony. She was released on December 8, 2022, in a prisoner exchange. In addition to her work as an activist for the LGBTQ+ community, Griner now advocates for the return of other Americans detained in foreign countries. She has published two memoirs: In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court (Dey Street Books, 2014) and Coming Home (Knopf, 2024).
George E. Johnson is the founder of Johnson Products, a cosmetics manufacturing company known for creating haircare products tailored for African Americans. The company was founded in 1954 with its first product, Ultra Wave, a hair relaxer for men. Three years later, Johnson Products released Ultra Sheen, a hair straightener for women. Over the next few decades, the company expanded its product line and developed cosmetologist training courses for proper use of its products. In 1971, Johnson Products became the first African American-owned company listed on the American Stock Exchange. That same year, Johnson became the first African American to serve on the board of directors of Commonwealth Edison.
Spike Lee is an American filmmaker whose work explores themes of race relations and Black culture. Some of his most notable films include Malcom X (1992), Do the Right Thing (1989), which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and BlacKkKlansman (2018), which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His most recent film Highest 2 Lowest was released earlier this year. Lee is an HBCU graduate, having earned his bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Morehouse College. He also took film courses at historically Black Clark Atlanta University. Later, he received a master of fine arts degree in film and television from New York University.
Amy Sherald is an activist and artist who primarily works as a portraitist documenting the contemporary African American experience in the United States. Among her many notable works are an official commission from First Lady Michelle Obama to paint her portrait for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Sherald’s art is held in numerous museums around the world, such as the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Embassy of the United States in Dakar, Senegal. Sherald earned her bachelor’s degree in painting from historically Black Clark Atlanta University and her master of fine arts degree in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
