Harvard To Honor 6 People With Du Bois Medal

Harvard University says a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and the first Latina to serve in the Supreme Court are among six people set to receive its highest honor in the field of African and African-American studies.

Those receiving Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois Medal include Valerie Jarrett - one of Obama's senior advisers and a close family friend - and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Others are New York-based playwright Tony Kushner, Georgia's civil rights activist and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, film director Steven Spielberg and National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern.

They will be honored during a ceremony scheduled for Oct. 2.

The Ivy League school has awarded the medal beginning in 2000 to people whose work has bolstered the field of African and African-American studies.