Chimamanda Adichie Receives Harvard's Highest Honour, W. E. B. Du Bois Medal

Nigerian author and activist Chimamanda Adichie has recently received the highest honour of Harvard University, the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal.

The honour given by Harvard in the field of African and African American Studies was on pause since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Previously the honour was awarded to Rita Dove, athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick, contemporary artist Carrie Mae Weems, civil rights activist and former Congressman John Lewis, and many more.

The award allows Adichie, who is an excellent storyteller and an advocate for gender equality to join the list of trailblazer recipients. 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.

A professor of the university and director of the Hutchins centre said in a statement, “Whether they’ve distinguished themselves in the arts, civic life, education, athletics, activism, or any combination of the above, these medalists show in all that they do their 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,” it said.