THE W. E. B. D U BOIS MEDAL
Awarded since 2000, the Du Bois Medal is Harvard's highest honor in the field of
African and Atrican American Studies. It is awarded to individuals in the U.S. and
across the globe in recognition of their contributions to African American culture
and the life of the mind.
Hutchins Center
for African &
African American
Research
Recipients have included scholars, artists, writers, journalists, philanthropists,
and political figures whose work has bolstered the field of African and African
American Studies.
W. E. B. DU BOIS MEDAL
THE H UTCHINS CENTER FOR AFRICAN
AND AFRICAN AMERICAN RESEARCH
CEREMONY
Located in the heart of Harvard Square. the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research supports research on tile history and culture of people
of African descent the world over and provides a forum for collaboration and the
ongoing exchange of ideas. It seeks to stimulate scholarly engagement in African
and Atrican American studies both at Harvard University and beyond, and to increase public awareness and understanding of this vital field of study.
The Hutchins Center comprises the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, the
Afro-Latin American Research Institute, the Hipnop Archive & Research Institute,
the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of Af rican and African American Art, the Image of
the Black Archive & Library, the History Design Studio, the Program in the Study
of Race & Gender in Science & MediCine, the Du Bois Review, and Transition
Magazine.
As the preeminent research center in the field, the Hutchins Center sponsors visiting fellows , art exhibitions, publications, research projects, archives, readings,
conferences, and new media initiatives that respond to and excite interest in established and emerging channels of inquiry in African and African American research.
THE HUTCHINS FAMILY FOUN DATION
The Hutchins Famity Foundation was established by Oebbie and Glenn Hutchins
to expand research and community initiatives in public policy, educatioo, the environmen t and public health . Initiatives funded by the Hutchins Family Foundation encourage collaboration among leading public serv ants, scholars and educators to advance the publ ic good.
H UT C HIN S CENTER HONORS
WED NES DAY, OCTOBER 2nd I +00 PM
SANDERS TI-IEATRE I MEMO RI AL HALL
-15 () UI NCY S'I R EET I CilMBIU DC E
W. E. B. DU BOIS MEDAL C EREMONY
PREVIOUS W. E. B. DU BOIS MEDALISTS
2013
Richard D. CQhen I Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham I Donald Yacovooe
Kuumba Singers ......................................... .
..Lift Every Voice and Sing
200.
Rev. Jonathan Walton ..
..Prayer
Henry Louis Gates, Jr ..
..Opening Remarks
Bob Hertler! I Hugh M. ' Srother Blue' Hi lll Charlayne Hunter-Gault I Vernon E. Jordan, Jr,
Joanne Kenda ll I Frank H. Pearl I Dan~1 and Joanna S. Rose I Shirley M. Tilghman
2008
Glenn Hutchins ..
Wole SOyinka ... .
Ch inua Acheba I Richard Gilder I Ingrid Saunders-Jones I Donald E. NewhQuSll
Susan Newhouse I Richard l. Plepler I Tamara Robinson I Tavis Smiley
..Hutchins Center Introduction & Video
2007
.... ....... .. "Of the Training of Black Men"
from The Souls of Black Folk
Melba Pattllkl Baals I Elizabeth Ecktord I Richard Gilder I Ernest G Green
Barbara E. Johnson I Gloria Ray Karlmari<: I Carlotta Wa lls LaNier I Richard Musgrave
Albert Murray I Terrence Roberts I JeHerson A. Thomas I Minnijean Brown Trickey
The lma Molhershed Wair I Vaughn Waters
200'
Deval Patrick ....... ...... ... .................................................. Regarding Valerie Jarrett
Diane Paulus ....... ....... ... ....................... ......... .... ....... ....... Reg arding Tony Kushner
William Julius Wilson ........................................... <Of the Training of Black Men"
from The Souls of Black Folk
Francois N·Sougan Albemagr'KIn I Ge.-ard Bissa inthe I Aime Cesaire I Bernard DOOie
Rene Despestre I Moune de Rivel l Mamadou Dia I Yande Christiane Diop
Marcelino Dos Santos I Manuel dos Santos Lima I Eoouard Glissant I Doug las E. Harris
Glenn Hutchins I Kenneth Ingraham I Richard Gilder I Pau li n Joachim I George Lamming
Frederick A. Lucas. Jr. I Ferdinand Oyono I Marilynn S. Robnson I Assane Seck I Bach.. Toure
Atxloolaye Wade I Hubert Walters I Dennis
W il ey
w.
2005
Lawrence D. Bobo I Nadi ne Gordimer I Marcyiiena Morgan I Toni Morrison I Wolo Soyinka
De rok Walco1t
Kuumba Singers .......... ................... .......Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Tum Me Round
2004
Genevieve Fabre I Michel Fabre
Bill Russel l ............ ....... ....................... .............. ................ Regarding David Stern
2003
Richard Newman
Martha Minow ........... ................................................ Reg arding Sonia Sotomayor
2002
K. Anthony Appiah I COfnel West
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham ... ................. ................. ."On Alexander Crummell"
from The Souls of Black Folk
2001
Harvey V. Fineberg
Glenn Hutchins ..
Drew Gilpin Faust .
..Regarding John Lewis
.Regarding Steven Spielberg
lawrence D. Bobo. "A Negro Student at Harvard at the End of the 19th Century"
Rev. Jonathan Walton ..
Kuumba Singers ..
..Benediction
South African Na tional Anthem
2000
Sheila Bidd le I Randa ll K. Burke1t I C.T.W. Curle I Ridlard Ekman I Francesca E. Farmer
Clyde C. Ferguson I Alphonse Fletcher. Jr. I Diorita C. Fletcher I Danie l M. Fo~
George W. Goethals I Peter Gomes I Les~e Skip Griffin I Ewan Guinier
Charles Jofdan Hamilton, Jr. I Robert La Bret Hal l I Alan Helmert I Jeffrey P. Howard
Octavia Hudson I Nathan I. Huggins I H. Stuart Hughes I QuiflGy Jones I Martin Kilson
Sewanyana G.M. Kironde. Jr. I Jeremy R. Knowles I Harry M. Lasker, 1111 Walter J. Leonard
Gerak:l Levin I Robert L. Liste!1bee, Jr. I Gary T. Ma rx I Genevieve McM il lan
Dominique de Menill ElVin Montgomery, Jr. I Donald E. Newhouse I Susan Newtlouse
Godfred P. Otuteye I Martin Payson I Anne Peretz I Martin Peretz I Wesley E. prom
Fr8f1 klin D. Raines I Wendy F. Rai nes I Nancy Randoph I Dan~1 Rosa I Joanna S. Rose
Henry Rosovsky I Neil L. Rudensline I Ruth J. Simmons I Carl S. Sloane
Cha r~s WOW. Smith Wemer SoIiors I Eileen Soutl1em I John D. Tyson I Craig Michael Watson
John W.M. WMing I Preston N. Will iams I Thomas Samuel Williamson, Jr. I Ernesl J. Wilson, III
Cheryl Yvonne Wynn
PRESENTERS
LIFr EVERY VOICE AND SING
Drew Gilpin Faust
.l ames \ Veldoll JohnSOll
Prc ;iucnL Il:uy:mJ Unr.-.:rsityand Linwln " 1'01'6'-;01" of Il isTOIY
Introducing Steven Spielberg
Glenn Hutchins
Co.. FolIl\•.lcr. S,ln:r L'\k~ p" rtn('1"S
Lift every voice and sing . till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty ;
Introducing John Lewis
Let our rejoicing ri se, high as the listening sk ies,
Martha Minow
Lei it resound loud as the rolling sea.
I- l org;1I1 Jllu '-Iden C hu i:>"-Jil alld I ~·oli-...sorof 1,,\1\'.
H arurd I ~lW S.. h,..,ol
Introducing Sonia Sotomayor
Deval Patrick
'" ,,,,mOL ST:l tCof i\ las." ,(;huSL'TTS
Introducing Valerie Jarrett
Sing a song full of the faith that the dar1<: past has taugh t us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Faci ng the rising sun of our new day begun ,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Diane Paulus
Arti sril: IJillx"tor. l\.J\1l:rk an l{qX.,t()lY ' I ·ht';lt~r
H a lY;\nJ l! nil'l:ls ity
Introducing Tony Kushne r
Bill Russell
N,ltinn,tl B:l"kclb:tll As<;(Xi~tion H all of F~ll1e
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod ,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died ;
Yet with a steady baat, have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
Introducing David Stem
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered:
READERS
Lawrence D. Bobo
\ V,E.B. D u Ho is J' lott"S.-;o r of thc Soci31 Scim ccs 'Illd
ChClir of t hc JkpClrrnlcnt ofAliit'J.n and Aliit':lnAIllCrit~1Il Snll.l ics.
J "m~lrd L ni1Crsity
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham
\,it'tor S . ' lllOmas l'rofc"sor of H isto l)' ,uk.! of AIi'iean and
t\ fikHl Amcril,1II S nl\Jic::;. I-i aly ,m.l U nil'crsity
Wale Sayinka
Nobel 1.,\lIfC".llC and I-Ililch ins Fellow II the I-Illt\:hins Centt'r I,-,r
Afriean "nJ Am w n :\ mt'rk,,'n 1(C:;C,lrl:h
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thu s far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might , led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path , we pray,
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts , drunk with the wine of the world , we forget Thee ,
PRAYER AN D BENEDICTION
Shadowed beneath Thy hand , may we forever stand ,
True to our God , true to our native land.
lonathan Walton
J'IlSCY i\ lini sK" in i\ k nKJriaJ Churdl :l1k.! l'l llmmcr J'rolC:s.sorof
Clni sti'lIl i\1()ral~. H :llY;\rd L" nil 'r JSi ry
VALERI E .JARRE'rr
D AVID STERN
Senior Ad"isor to the President
C01ll1lli.%ioller. National Basketball Association
Valeri e B . Jarrett is a senior advisor to President
Barack Obama. A member of his administration since
his historic inauguration in 2009, Ms. Jarrett oversees
the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and chairs the White House Council on
Women and Girls, the mission of which is to ensure
that Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider the
impact on their policies on the well-being of women,
girls, and families, both domestically and internation-
Dav id Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. On February "
2014, thirty years to the day l1e took the organization's reins, David Stern will retire from his
poSition, leaving behind a league that during
l1is tenure expanded dramatically in bolh size
and scope. Its reach extends far beyond the
paint, not just into more living rooms than ever,
but also into communities in the United States
and around the world.
ally.
Beginn ing in 2008, Ms. Jarrett served as co-chair of
the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. As a
senior advisor to the presidential campaign, she was its highest ranking African
American and female team member.
Immediately prior to joining the Obama administration, Ms. Jarrett was the chief
executive officer of the Chicago real estate development company The Habitat
Company. Her connections 10 Chicago are deep. Born in Shiraz, Iran, she relocated to the city with her parents when she was a young child. Her grandfather,
Robert Taylor. was an activist and chair of the Chicago Housing Authority; he resigned his position wilen Ihe cily council squelched efforts Ihal would allow for racially integrated housing . Ms. Jarrett held several positions in both the public and
private sector in her adopted hometown before her relocation to Washington. She
was chair of the Chicago Transit Board, commissioner of Planning and Development for the city, and depuly chief of slaff for Mayor Richard M. Daley. In addition, she practiced law with two private firms.
Ms. Jarrett has served as director of a number of corporate and not-far-profit
boards. Her appointments include chairman of the board of the Chicago Stock
Exchange , director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and chairman of the
University of Chk:ago Medical Center Board of Trustees.
Ms. Jarrett received her BA from Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from
the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.
.1 '
~~
W
?I
Since 1984, the league has seen the creation
of seven new franchises and two new leagues
(the Women's National Basketball League and
the NBA Development League) and enjoyed a
thirtyfold increase in revenues. It has offices in fourteen global markets and sixteen language-specific web destinations, with games broadcast in 215 countries
and territories in forty-seven languages. Hundreds of mi!1ions of fans get their
scores from mobile applications and digital assets (NBA.com, WBNA.com,
NBADLeague.com) at the flip of a switch or the touch of a finger. For those who
still prefer viewing the game from the comfort of their couch, NBA TV is available
in more than 61 million U.S. homes.
,
Mr. Stern's commitment to social responsibility has been unflagging. Recognizing
the potential for players to influence children in a positive way, he oversaw the
launch of NBA Cares in 2005. Since then, the NBA, its teams and players have
raised more than $220 million for charity, provided more than 2.5 million hours of
hands-on service to communities worldwide, and created more than 810 safe
living and play spaces for children and their families. NBA Cares supports a host
of community outreach initiatives, including internationally recognized you thserving programs such as Basketball Without Borders (BWB), which this summer
brought players to camps in Argentina, South Africa, and Portugal.
Mr. Stern is the chair emeritus of the Trustees of Columbia University and serves
or has served on many boards, including Beth Israel Medical Center, the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Martin Luther King Jr.
Federal Holiday Commission , the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Jazz at lincoln Center, and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Stern is a
graduate of Ru tgers University and Columbia Law School.
STEVEN SPIE LBERG
TOl\TY KUSHNER
Fi Inlillaker
1)I:tywrighr ami Screenwriter
Steven Sp ielberg is one oltoday's most innuential
and celebrated filmmakers . In 1975, at age 28,
Steven Spielberg became a household name
thanks to Jaws, the first ever film to earn $100 million. He stands as the top-grossing director of all
time, having helmed other blockbusters such as
E. T. the Extra- Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones franchise, and Jurassic Park.
Tony Kushner is an award-winning playwright and
screenwriter. He consistently explores a wide range
of provoca tive topics in his plays, from AIDS to Ameriean racism 10 Afghanistan. He is best known for his
groundbreaking two-part epic drama Angels in
America: A Gay Fan/asia on National Themes. His
other plays include A Bright Room Called Day: Sfavst,
HomebodylKabut, the musical Caroline, or Change ,
for which he wrote both book and lyrics; and The In felligent Homosexual's Guide /0 Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.
Throughout his body of work, Mr. Spielberg explores topics personal, historical, and otherworldly,
placing his characters in wildly different situations
where tile individual must confront the unknown.
Nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Director
several limes, most recently to( Lincoln (based in part on Doris Keams Goodwin's Team of Rivals and with a screenplay by Tony Kushner), he took home his
first two Oscars in 1993 , lor Best Director and Best Picture, for Schindler's List.
His third Academy Award, also lor BeSI Director, came in 1998 for Saving Private
Ryan. He a lso received the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for both
films . With eleven OGA Award nominations to date, for films as varied as Close
Encounters of the Third Kind and The Color Purple, E. T. and Amistad, Mr. Spielberg has been honored by his peers more than any other director. In 2000, he
received the DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award. His numerous other career tributes include the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, the Hollywood Foreign Press's Cecil B. DeMille Award, the
Kennedy Center Honor, and the AFI Ufe Achievement Award.
He has had tremendous success as a producer as well. In 1984 he formed the
production company, Amblin Entertainment A decade tater, he partnered with
Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Getten to form the original DreamWorks Studios.
In its new incamation, he and Stacy Snider lead DreamWorks in partnership with
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Amban i Group.
His philanthropic work is far- reaching. Mr. Spielberg is chairman emeritus of the
Starlight Children's Foundation, which seeks to improve the lives and health care
of chronically ill children worldwide.
Convinced 01 the urgency to record personal histories after his work on
Schindler's List, Mr. Spielberg established The Righteous Persons FOlJndatlon
(RPA and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. Today the renamed USC Shoah Foundation Institute lor Visual Hislory and Education contains more than 52,000 interviews with witnesses to the Holocaust and other
genocides. The RPF also trains its locus on o ur own nation, through its Inter1aith
youth Core and Cultural Leadership granls promoting cooperation and crossc ultural understanding among ethnically and religiously d iverse groups across
America.
Born in New York and raised in Lake Charles, Louisi ana, Mr. Kushner is also noted for his distinctive
translations and adaptations, among them S. Y. Ansky's Yiddish drama The
Dybbuk, Bertolt Brecht's antiwar classic Mother Courage and Her Children, and
the libretto for the Czech composer Hans Krasa 's children's opera 8rundib8r
(Iirst per10rmed by child prisoners at the coocentration camp Theresiensladt in
1942). Other works include The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present, in
which he expounds upon the work of his longtime friend (and libretto illustrator) ,
and Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli·
Palestinian Conflict , co-ediled with the journalist Alisa Solomon.
In 2003 Mr. Kushner adapted A ngels in America for an HBO mlnisenes drected
by Mike Nichols. Two years later, he teamed with Steven Spielberg for the first
time, co-authoring with Eric Roth the screenplay lor Munich. In 2012 he joined
forces again with the director, writing the screenplay lor the film Lincoln. Nominated for an Academy Award, it won the New York Film Critics Circle Award, the
Boston Sociely 01 film Critics Award, and a host of other awards.
These capped a long list of career awards for Mr. Kushner: the Pulitzer Prize fOf
Drama, two Tonys, an Emmy, three Obies, a Spirit of Justice Award from the Gay
and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a Cultural Achievement Award from The
National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and a Chicago Tribune Uterary Prize for
liletime achievement. In 2008, Mr. Kushner became the first recipient oltha
Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the largest theater award in the
UniTed StaTes. In 2013, Mr. Kushner received the National Medal of Arts and HIJmanities. The Oscar-w inning fi lmmaker Frieda Lee Mock turned her own lens on
him in the documentary film, Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner.
Mr. Kushner has a B.A. from Columbia University.
.TOI IN LEWIS
SONIA SOTOMAYOR
Un ited Stares Representarive
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
John Lewis has been the U_S. representative of
Georgia's Fifth Congressional District since 1986. He
is only the second African American to represent
Georgia in Congress since Reconstruction.
Sonia Sotomayor became an associate justice
of Ina Supreme Court of the United States on
August 8, 2009. Her appointment was historic:
she is the first Hispanic justice to serve on the
court, and its third female justice. In nominating
her 10 the seat, President Barack Obama cited
her distinguished career, but also her life story.
Justice Sotomayor herself speaks frequent ly of
her upbringing, aware of her position to influence
and inspire children Irying to succeed in the face
of adversity.
Inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the
Reverend Or. Martin Luther King, the sharecroppers'
son from Troy, Alabama, became a student leader at
Fisk University, organizing sit-ins at Nashville's segregated lunch counters. In 1961 , he participated in
the Freedom Rides, which chaJlenged segregation at
interstate bus terminals across the Jim Crow South.
From 1963 to 1966, Mr. Lewis was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). At just 23, he was an architect of the March on Washing ton and its youngest speaker. Fifty years later, standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the ' Let Freedom Ring" commemoration , Mr. Lewis praised the country's
advances but pointed to the disparities and discrimination that persist.
During tne Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, Mr. Lewis coordinated SNCC
voter registration drives. The following year, on March 7, 1965, he and activist
Hosea Williams led six hundred-plus marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge
in Selma, Alabama. Their goal: to march peacefully to Montgomery and demonstrate the state's urgent need for voting rights. The nonviolent protest was met
with violence and rage. An indelible image of that day, dubbed "Bloody Sunday,"
shocked the nation: one of a young , kneeling John Lewis, hands behind his head,
being beaten by an armed, helmeted, white Alabama state trooper. This image
and others like it hastened the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In 1981 he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. Five years later, he 8f1tered
the U.S. Congress and in 2012 was reelected to a fourteenth consecutive term.
Mr. Lewis holds a B.A. in religion and pllilosophy from Fisk university and is a
graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville. He has received more than fifty honorary degrees from universities including Harvard University, Howard University, and Troy State University. In 2001 , the John F. Ken nedy Library Foundation granted him its first Profile in Cou rage Award for Lifetime
Achievement. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Mr. Lewis the nation's
highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom.
Mr. Lewis is the author of three books: the graphic memoir trilogy MARCH, cowritten with Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate POINel1(2013), Across That
Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change (2012) and Walking with the Wind:
A Memoir of the Movement (1998) , written with Michael D'Orso.
Justice Sotomayor's career inspirations were
somewhat unconventional : the girl detective
Nancy Drew and the TV lawyer Perry Mason . Born in the Bronx in 1954 to Puerto
Rican parents, she became fluent in English only after her father passed away
when she was nine years old. Once widowed, her motner worked six days a
week to support ner two cnildren. Bolstered tremendously by her educationminded mother, Justice Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her high school
class and earned a scholarship to Princeton University.
She was part of only the fourth class at Princeton to admit women. Justice Sotomayor was one of countless students who benefited from affirmative action and
ran with the once-unattainable opportunities the program opened up to them. In
1976 she graduated summa cum laude with a BA in history. She accumulated
other honors as well: election to Phi Beta Kappa and Princeton 's highest undergraduate distinction, the M. Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, in recognition of her unmatched scholarship and leadership.
She earned her J.D. in 1979 from Yale Law School, where she served as editor
of tile Yale Law Journal and co-chaired the Latin American and Native Am8fican
Students Association. Upon graduation, she served for five years as an assistant
district attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office before joining
the private firm of Pavia & Harcourt.
In 1992 Justice Sotomayor was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to the
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York , the youngest, the first Hispanic, and the first Puerto Rican woman to hold the position of federa l court
judge . In 1995, she "saved baseball ,~ in Barack Obama's words, when her ruling
effectively halted the Major League Baseball strike of 1991-1995. With a new
president came a new appointment, and in 1998, President Bill Cl jnton appointed
her to the U.S. Court of Appea ls for the Second Circuit, a position she would hold
until 2009, when President Obama nominated her to fill the seat of the retiring
Associate Justice David Souter.
Justice Sotomayor published her memoir, My Beloved World, at the beginning of
this year.
.TOI IN LEWIS
SONIA SOTOMAYOR
Un ited Stares Representarive
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
John Lewis has been the U_S. representative of
Georgia's Fifth Congressional District since 1986. He
is only the second African American to represent
Georgia in Congress since Reconstruction.
Sonia Sotomayor became an associate justice
of Ina Supreme Court of the United States on
August 8, 2009. Her appointment was historic:
she is the first Hispanic justice to serve on the
court, and its third female justice. In nominating
her 10 the seat, President Barack Obama cited
her distinguished career, but also her life story.
Justice Sotomayor herself speaks frequent ly of
her upbringing, aware of her position to influence
and inspire children Irying to succeed in the face
of adversity.
Inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the
Reverend Or. Martin Luther King, the sharecroppers'
son from Troy, Alabama, became a student leader at
Fisk University, organizing sit-ins at Nashville's segregated lunch counters. In 1961 , he participated in
the Freedom Rides, which chaJlenged segregation at
interstate bus terminals across the Jim Crow South.
From 1963 to 1966, Mr. Lewis was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). At just 23, he was an architect of the March on Washing ton and its youngest speaker. Fifty years later, standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the ' Let Freedom Ring" commemoration , Mr. Lewis praised the country's
advances but pointed to the disparities and discrimination that persist.
During tne Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, Mr. Lewis coordinated SNCC
voter registration drives. The following year, on March 7, 1965, he and activist
Hosea Williams led six hundred-plus marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge
in Selma, Alabama. Their goal: to march peacefully to Montgomery and demonstrate the state's urgent need for voting rights. The nonviolent protest was met
with violence and rage. An indelible image of that day, dubbed "Bloody Sunday,"
shocked the nation: one of a young , kneeling John Lewis, hands behind his head,
being beaten by an armed, helmeted, white Alabama state trooper. This image
and others like it hastened the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In 1981 he was elected to the Atlanta City Council. Five years later, he 8f1tered
the U.S. Congress and in 2012 was reelected to a fourteenth consecutive term.
Mr. Lewis holds a B.A. in religion and pllilosophy from Fisk university and is a
graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville. He has received more than fifty honorary degrees from universities including Harvard University, Howard University, and Troy State University. In 2001 , the John F. Ken nedy Library Foundation granted him its first Profile in Cou rage Award for Lifetime
Achievement. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Mr. Lewis the nation's
highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom.
Mr. Lewis is the author of three books: the graphic memoir trilogy MARCH, cowritten with Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate POINel1(2013), Across That
Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change (2012) and Walking with the Wind:
A Memoir of the Movement (1998) , written with Michael D'Orso.
Justice Sotomayor's career inspirations were
somewhat unconventional : the girl detective
Nancy Drew and the TV lawyer Perry Mason . Born in the Bronx in 1954 to Puerto
Rican parents, she became fluent in English only after her father passed away
when she was nine years old. Once widowed, her motner worked six days a
week to support ner two cnildren. Bolstered tremendously by her educationminded mother, Justice Sotomayor graduated as valedictorian of her high school
class and earned a scholarship to Princeton University.
She was part of only the fourth class at Princeton to admit women. Justice Sotomayor was one of countless students who benefited from affirmative action and
ran with the once-unattainable opportunities the program opened up to them. In
1976 she graduated summa cum laude with a BA in history. She accumulated
other honors as well: election to Phi Beta Kappa and Princeton 's highest undergraduate distinction, the M. Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, in recognition of her unmatched scholarship and leadership.
She earned her J.D. in 1979 from Yale Law School, where she served as editor
of tile Yale Law Journal and co-chaired the Latin American and Native Am8fican
Students Association. Upon graduation, she served for five years as an assistant
district attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office before joining
the private firm of Pavia & Harcourt.
In 1992 Justice Sotomayor was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to the
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York , the youngest, the first Hispanic, and the first Puerto Rican woman to hold the position of federa l court
judge . In 1995, she "saved baseball ,~ in Barack Obama's words, when her ruling
effectively halted the Major League Baseball strike of 1991-1995. With a new
president came a new appointment, and in 1998, President Bill Cl jnton appointed
her to the U.S. Court of Appea ls for the Second Circuit, a position she would hold
until 2009, when President Obama nominated her to fill the seat of the retiring
Associate Justice David Souter.
Justice Sotomayor published her memoir, My Beloved World, at the beginning of
this year.
STEVEN SPIE LBERG
TOl\TY KUSHNER
Fi Inlillaker
1)I:tywrighr ami Screenwriter
Steven Sp ielberg is one oltoday's most innuential
and celebrated filmmakers . In 1975, at age 28,
Steven Spielberg became a household name
thanks to Jaws, the first ever film to earn $100 million. He stands as the top-grossing director of all
time, having helmed other blockbusters such as
E. T. the Extra- Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones franchise, and Jurassic Park.
Tony Kushner is an award-winning playwright and
screenwriter. He consistently explores a wide range
of provoca tive topics in his plays, from AIDS to Ameriean racism 10 Afghanistan. He is best known for his
groundbreaking two-part epic drama Angels in
America: A Gay Fan/asia on National Themes. His
other plays include A Bright Room Called Day: Sfavst,
HomebodylKabut, the musical Caroline, or Change ,
for which he wrote both book and lyrics; and The In felligent Homosexual's Guide /0 Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.
Throughout his body of work, Mr. Spielberg explores topics personal, historical, and otherworldly,
placing his characters in wildly different situations
where tile individual must confront the unknown.
Nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Director
several limes, most recently to( Lincoln (based in part on Doris Keams Goodwin's Team of Rivals and with a screenplay by Tony Kushner), he took home his
first two Oscars in 1993 , lor Best Director and Best Picture, for Schindler's List.
His third Academy Award, also lor BeSI Director, came in 1998 for Saving Private
Ryan. He a lso received the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for both
films . With eleven OGA Award nominations to date, for films as varied as Close
Encounters of the Third Kind and The Color Purple, E. T. and Amistad, Mr. Spielberg has been honored by his peers more than any other director. In 2000, he
received the DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award. His numerous other career tributes include the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, the Hollywood Foreign Press's Cecil B. DeMille Award, the
Kennedy Center Honor, and the AFI Ufe Achievement Award.
He has had tremendous success as a producer as well. In 1984 he formed the
production company, Amblin Entertainment A decade tater, he partnered with
Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Getten to form the original DreamWorks Studios.
In its new incamation, he and Stacy Snider lead DreamWorks in partnership with
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Amban i Group.
His philanthropic work is far- reaching. Mr. Spielberg is chairman emeritus of the
Starlight Children's Foundation, which seeks to improve the lives and health care
of chronically ill children worldwide.
Convinced 01 the urgency to record personal histories after his work on
Schindler's List, Mr. Spielberg established The Righteous Persons FOlJndatlon
(RPA and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. Today the renamed USC Shoah Foundation Institute lor Visual Hislory and Education contains more than 52,000 interviews with witnesses to the Holocaust and other
genocides. The RPF also trains its locus on o ur own nation, through its Inter1aith
youth Core and Cultural Leadership granls promoting cooperation and crossc ultural understanding among ethnically and religiously d iverse groups across
America.
Born in New York and raised in Lake Charles, Louisi ana, Mr. Kushner is also noted for his distinctive
translations and adaptations, among them S. Y. Ansky's Yiddish drama The
Dybbuk, Bertolt Brecht's antiwar classic Mother Courage and Her Children, and
the libretto for the Czech composer Hans Krasa 's children's opera 8rundib8r
(Iirst per10rmed by child prisoners at the coocentration camp Theresiensladt in
1942). Other works include The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present, in
which he expounds upon the work of his longtime friend (and libretto illustrator) ,
and Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli·
Palestinian Conflict , co-ediled with the journalist Alisa Solomon.
In 2003 Mr. Kushner adapted A ngels in America for an HBO mlnisenes drected
by Mike Nichols. Two years later, he teamed with Steven Spielberg for the first
time, co-authoring with Eric Roth the screenplay lor Munich. In 2012 he joined
forces again with the director, writing the screenplay lor the film Lincoln. Nominated for an Academy Award, it won the New York Film Critics Circle Award, the
Boston Sociely 01 film Critics Award, and a host of other awards.
These capped a long list of career awards for Mr. Kushner: the Pulitzer Prize fOf
Drama, two Tonys, an Emmy, three Obies, a Spirit of Justice Award from the Gay
and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a Cultural Achievement Award from The
National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and a Chicago Tribune Uterary Prize for
liletime achievement. In 2008, Mr. Kushner became the first recipient oltha
Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the largest theater award in the
UniTed StaTes. In 2013, Mr. Kushner received the National Medal of Arts and HIJmanities. The Oscar-w inning fi lmmaker Frieda Lee Mock turned her own lens on
him in the documentary film, Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner.
Mr. Kushner has a B.A. from Columbia University.
VALERI E .JARRE'rr
D AVID STERN
Senior Ad"isor to the President
C01ll1lli.%ioller. National Basketball Association
Valeri e B . Jarrett is a senior advisor to President
Barack Obama. A member of his administration since
his historic inauguration in 2009, Ms. Jarrett oversees
the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and chairs the White House Council on
Women and Girls, the mission of which is to ensure
that Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider the
impact on their policies on the well-being of women,
girls, and families, both domestically and internation-
Dav id Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. On February "
2014, thirty years to the day l1e took the organization's reins, David Stern will retire from his
poSition, leaving behind a league that during
l1is tenure expanded dramatically in bolh size
and scope. Its reach extends far beyond the
paint, not just into more living rooms than ever,
but also into communities in the United States
and around the world.
ally.
Beginn ing in 2008, Ms. Jarrett served as co-chair of
the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. As a
senior advisor to the presidential campaign, she was its highest ranking African
American and female team member.
Immediately prior to joining the Obama administration, Ms. Jarrett was the chief
executive officer of the Chicago real estate development company The Habitat
Company. Her connections 10 Chicago are deep. Born in Shiraz, Iran, she relocated to the city with her parents when she was a young child. Her grandfather,
Robert Taylor. was an activist and chair of the Chicago Housing Authority; he resigned his position wilen Ihe cily council squelched efforts Ihal would allow for racially integrated housing . Ms. Jarrett held several positions in both the public and
private sector in her adopted hometown before her relocation to Washington. She
was chair of the Chicago Transit Board, commissioner of Planning and Development for the city, and depuly chief of slaff for Mayor Richard M. Daley. In addition, she practiced law with two private firms.
Ms. Jarrett has served as director of a number of corporate and not-far-profit
boards. Her appointments include chairman of the board of the Chicago Stock
Exchange , director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and chairman of the
University of Chk:ago Medical Center Board of Trustees.
Ms. Jarrett received her BA from Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from
the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.
.1 '
~~
W
?I
Since 1984, the league has seen the creation
of seven new franchises and two new leagues
(the Women's National Basketball League and
the NBA Development League) and enjoyed a
thirtyfold increase in revenues. It has offices in fourteen global markets and sixteen language-specific web destinations, with games broadcast in 215 countries
and territories in forty-seven languages. Hundreds of mi!1ions of fans get their
scores from mobile applications and digital assets (NBA.com, WBNA.com,
NBADLeague.com) at the flip of a switch or the touch of a finger. For those who
still prefer viewing the game from the comfort of their couch, NBA TV is available
in more than 61 million U.S. homes.
,
Mr. Stern's commitment to social responsibility has been unflagging. Recognizing
the potential for players to influence children in a positive way, he oversaw the
launch of NBA Cares in 2005. Since then, the NBA, its teams and players have
raised more than $220 million for charity, provided more than 2.5 million hours of
hands-on service to communities worldwide, and created more than 810 safe
living and play spaces for children and their families. NBA Cares supports a host
of community outreach initiatives, including internationally recognized you thserving programs such as Basketball Without Borders (BWB), which this summer
brought players to camps in Argentina, South Africa, and Portugal.
Mr. Stern is the chair emeritus of the Trustees of Columbia University and serves
or has served on many boards, including Beth Israel Medical Center, the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Martin Luther King Jr.
Federal Holiday Commission , the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Jazz at lincoln Center, and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Stern is a
graduate of Ru tgers University and Columbia Law School.
PRESENTERS
LIFr EVERY VOICE AND SING
Drew Gilpin Faust
.l ames \ Veldoll JohnSOll
Prc ;iucnL Il:uy:mJ Unr.-.:rsityand Linwln " 1'01'6'-;01" of Il isTOIY
Introducing Steven Spielberg
Glenn Hutchins
Co.. FolIl\•.lcr. S,ln:r L'\k~ p" rtn('1"S
Lift every voice and sing . till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty ;
Introducing John Lewis
Let our rejoicing ri se, high as the listening sk ies,
Martha Minow
Lei it resound loud as the rolling sea.
I- l org;1I1 Jllu '-Iden C hu i:>"-Jil alld I ~·oli-...sorof 1,,\1\'.
H arurd I ~lW S.. h,..,ol
Introducing Sonia Sotomayor
Deval Patrick
'" ,,,,mOL ST:l tCof i\ las." ,(;huSL'TTS
Introducing Valerie Jarrett
Sing a song full of the faith that the dar1<: past has taugh t us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Faci ng the rising sun of our new day begun ,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Diane Paulus
Arti sril: IJillx"tor. l\.J\1l:rk an l{qX.,t()lY ' I ·ht';lt~r
H a lY;\nJ l! nil'l:ls ity
Introducing Tony Kushne r
Bill Russell
N,ltinn,tl B:l"kclb:tll As<;(Xi~tion H all of F~ll1e
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod ,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died ;
Yet with a steady baat, have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
Introducing David Stem
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered:
READERS
Lawrence D. Bobo
\ V,E.B. D u Ho is J' lott"S.-;o r of thc Soci31 Scim ccs 'Illd
ChClir of t hc JkpClrrnlcnt ofAliit'J.n and Aliit':lnAIllCrit~1Il Snll.l ics.
J "m~lrd L ni1Crsity
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham
\,it'tor S . ' lllOmas l'rofc"sor of H isto l)' ,uk.! of AIi'iean and
t\ fikHl Amcril,1II S nl\Jic::;. I-i aly ,m.l U nil'crsity
Wale Sayinka
Nobel 1.,\lIfC".llC and I-Ililch ins Fellow II the I-Illt\:hins Centt'r I,-,r
Afriean "nJ Am w n :\ mt'rk,,'n 1(C:;C,lrl:h
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thu s far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might , led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path , we pray,
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts , drunk with the wine of the world , we forget Thee ,
PRAYER AN D BENEDICTION
Shadowed beneath Thy hand , may we forever stand ,
True to our God , true to our native land.
lonathan Walton
J'IlSCY i\ lini sK" in i\ k nKJriaJ Churdl :l1k.! l'l llmmcr J'rolC:s.sorof
Clni sti'lIl i\1()ral~. H :llY;\rd L" nil 'r JSi ry
W. E. B. DU BOIS MEDAL C EREMONY
PREVIOUS W. E. B. DU BOIS MEDALISTS
2013
Richard D. CQhen I Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham I Donald Yacovooe
Kuumba Singers ......................................... .
..Lift Every Voice and Sing
200.
Rev. Jonathan Walton ..
..Prayer
Henry Louis Gates, Jr ..
..Opening Remarks
Bob Hertler! I Hugh M. ' Srother Blue' Hi lll Charlayne Hunter-Gault I Vernon E. Jordan, Jr,
Joanne Kenda ll I Frank H. Pearl I Dan~1 and Joanna S. Rose I Shirley M. Tilghman
2008
Glenn Hutchins ..
Wole SOyinka ... .
Ch inua Acheba I Richard Gilder I Ingrid Saunders-Jones I Donald E. NewhQuSll
Susan Newhouse I Richard l. Plepler I Tamara Robinson I Tavis Smiley
..Hutchins Center Introduction & Video
2007
.... ....... .. "Of the Training of Black Men"
from The Souls of Black Folk
Melba Pattllkl Baals I Elizabeth Ecktord I Richard Gilder I Ernest G Green
Barbara E. Johnson I Gloria Ray Karlmari<: I Carlotta Wa lls LaNier I Richard Musgrave
Albert Murray I Terrence Roberts I JeHerson A. Thomas I Minnijean Brown Trickey
The lma Molhershed Wair I Vaughn Waters
200'
Deval Patrick ....... ...... ... .................................................. Regarding Valerie Jarrett
Diane Paulus ....... ....... ... ....................... ......... .... ....... ....... Reg arding Tony Kushner
William Julius Wilson ........................................... <Of the Training of Black Men"
from The Souls of Black Folk
Francois N·Sougan Albemagr'KIn I Ge.-ard Bissa inthe I Aime Cesaire I Bernard DOOie
Rene Despestre I Moune de Rivel l Mamadou Dia I Yande Christiane Diop
Marcelino Dos Santos I Manuel dos Santos Lima I Eoouard Glissant I Doug las E. Harris
Glenn Hutchins I Kenneth Ingraham I Richard Gilder I Pau li n Joachim I George Lamming
Frederick A. Lucas. Jr. I Ferdinand Oyono I Marilynn S. Robnson I Assane Seck I Bach.. Toure
Atxloolaye Wade I Hubert Walters I Dennis
W il ey
w.
2005
Lawrence D. Bobo I Nadi ne Gordimer I Marcyiiena Morgan I Toni Morrison I Wolo Soyinka
De rok Walco1t
Kuumba Singers .......... ................... .......Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Tum Me Round
2004
Genevieve Fabre I Michel Fabre
Bill Russel l ............ ....... ....................... .............. ................ Regarding David Stern
2003
Richard Newman
Martha Minow ........... ................................................ Reg arding Sonia Sotomayor
2002
K. Anthony Appiah I COfnel West
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham ... ................. ................. ."On Alexander Crummell"
from The Souls of Black Folk
2001
Harvey V. Fineberg
Glenn Hutchins ..
Drew Gilpin Faust .
..Regarding John Lewis
.Regarding Steven Spielberg
lawrence D. Bobo. "A Negro Student at Harvard at the End of the 19th Century"
Rev. Jonathan Walton ..
Kuumba Singers ..
..Benediction
South African Na tional Anthem
2000
Sheila Bidd le I Randa ll K. Burke1t I C.T.W. Curle I Ridlard Ekman I Francesca E. Farmer
Clyde C. Ferguson I Alphonse Fletcher. Jr. I Diorita C. Fletcher I Danie l M. Fo~
George W. Goethals I Peter Gomes I Les~e Skip Griffin I Ewan Guinier
Charles Jofdan Hamilton, Jr. I Robert La Bret Hal l I Alan Helmert I Jeffrey P. Howard
Octavia Hudson I Nathan I. Huggins I H. Stuart Hughes I QuiflGy Jones I Martin Kilson
Sewanyana G.M. Kironde. Jr. I Jeremy R. Knowles I Harry M. Lasker, 1111 Walter J. Leonard
Gerak:l Levin I Robert L. Liste!1bee, Jr. I Gary T. Ma rx I Genevieve McM il lan
Dominique de Menill ElVin Montgomery, Jr. I Donald E. Newhouse I Susan Newtlouse
Godfred P. Otuteye I Martin Payson I Anne Peretz I Martin Peretz I Wesley E. prom
Fr8f1 klin D. Raines I Wendy F. Rai nes I Nancy Randoph I Dan~1 Rosa I Joanna S. Rose
Henry Rosovsky I Neil L. Rudensline I Ruth J. Simmons I Carl S. Sloane
Cha r~s WOW. Smith Wemer SoIiors I Eileen Soutl1em I John D. Tyson I Craig Michael Watson
John W.M. WMing I Preston N. Will iams I Thomas Samuel Williamson, Jr. I Ernesl J. Wilson, III
Cheryl Yvonne Wynn
THE W. E. B. D U BOIS MEDAL
Awarded since 2000, the Du Bois Medal is Harvard's highest honor in the field of
African and Atrican American Studies. It is awarded to individuals in the U.S. and
across the globe in recognition of their contributions to African American culture
and the life of the mind.
Hutchins Center
for African &
African American
Research
Recipients have included scholars, artists, writers, journalists, philanthropists,
and political figures whose work has bolstered the field of African and African
American Studies.
W. E. B. DU BOIS MEDAL
THE H UTCHINS CENTER FOR AFRICAN
AND AFRICAN AMERICAN RESEARCH
CEREMONY
Located in the heart of Harvard Square. the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research supports research on tile history and culture of people
of African descent the world over and provides a forum for collaboration and the
ongoing exchange of ideas. It seeks to stimulate scholarly engagement in African
and Atrican American studies both at Harvard University and beyond, and to increase public awareness and understanding of this vital field of study.
The Hutchins Center comprises the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, the
Afro-Latin American Research Institute, the Hipnop Archive & Research Institute,
the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of Af rican and African American Art, the Image of
the Black Archive & Library, the History Design Studio, the Program in the Study
of Race & Gender in Science & MediCine, the Du Bois Review, and Transition
Magazine.
As the preeminent research center in the field, the Hutchins Center sponsors visiting fellows , art exhibitions, publications, research projects, archives, readings,
conferences, and new media initiatives that respond to and excite interest in established and emerging channels of inquiry in African and African American research.
THE HUTCHINS FAMILY FOUN DATION
The Hutchins Famity Foundation was established by Oebbie and Glenn Hutchins
to expand research and community initiatives in public policy, educatioo, the environmen t and public health . Initiatives funded by the Hutchins Family Foundation encourage collaboration among leading public serv ants, scholars and educators to advance the publ ic good.
H UT C HIN S CENTER HONORS
WED NES DAY, OCTOBER 2nd I +00 PM
SANDERS TI-IEATRE I MEMO RI AL HALL
-15 () UI NCY S'I R EET I CilMBIU DC E