Queen Latifah to Be Honored With Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. Harvard University recently named Queen Latifah as one of seven recipients of the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. She will receive the medal on Oct. 22 alongside others such as philanthropist Sheila Johnson, artist Kerry James Marshall and poet Rita Dove. The medal is named in commemoration of Du Bois’s feat as the first black student to graduate with a doctorate degree from Harvard in 1895. . Receiving the medal is considered one of Harvard’s highest honors. According to Harvard, the medal is awarded to individuals who contribute to African and African American culture and the “life of the mind.”. Recipients have included scholars, artists, writers, journalists, philanthropists, and public servants whose work has bolstered the field of African and African American studies, via Harvard University . Other well-known past recipients of the medal include Quincy Jones, Colin Kaepernick and Oprah Winfrey.