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Colin Kaepernick to Receive W.E.B. Du Bois Medal From Harvard

Colin Kaepernick will be honored along with seven others with the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal.

Colin Kaepernick will receive the highest honor from the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard, the university announced Thursday.

Kaepernick will be honored along with comedian Dave Chappelle, artist Kehinde Wiley and five others. They will be honored and receive the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal on Oct. 11 at the university.

The announcement states that the "medalists have made significant contributions to African and African-American history and culture, and more broadly, are individuals who advocate for intercultural understanding and human rights in an increasingly global and interconnected world."

Maya Angelou, Muhammad Ali and Ava DuVernay are all past winners.

Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback, started kneeling during the 'Star-Spangled Banner' in August 2016 as a means of protesting racial inequality and police brutality. He hasn't played since the 2016 season. Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL for collusion in October 2017 after another team did not pick him up after opting out of his 49ers contract in March of the same year. He won the summary judgment phase of his collusion case.

At the beginning of September, Nike named Kaepernick as one of the faces of its 30th anniversary "Just Do It” campaign.