Harvard University To Honor Ex S.F. 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee during the national anthem at a 49ers game in 2016, will be honored next month by Harvard University, Harvard officials said today.

Kaepernick and seven others will each receive a W.E.B. Du Bois Medal for making a significant contribution to African and African-American history and culture. More broadly, the eight are being recognized for promoting intercultural understanding and human rights. Each will receive their medal during the sixth annual Hutchins Center Honors, which will take place Oct. 11 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Other honorees include activist and comedian Dave Chappelle as well as a venture capitalist, university president, author and artist. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. said in a statement, "Emerging from a variety of backgrounds and professions, each represents the quest for knowledge, freedom of expression, and pursuit of truth that are foundational to black history and culture and that were foundational to Du Bois as a thinker and activist."

Gates said this year is the 150th anniversary of Du Bois' birth and he would be pleased with the eight honorees.

Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard.

--Bay City News/Image courtesy of Justin Sullivan/Getty Images