Kehinde Wiley, a Nigerian painter, who was commissioned to do a portrait of former United States President Barack Obama, has been honoured with the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal by Harvard University.

On Thursday, Kehinde alongside seven others — Florence Ladd, Kenneth Chenault, Shirley Ann Jackson, Pamela Joyner, Bryan Stevenson, Dave Chappelle, and Colin Kaepernick — received the medals for their works in various fields.

Past awards have been conferred on Muhammad Ali (2015) and Maya Angelou (2014), and is Harvard’s highest honour in the field of African and African American studies.