Yogi Berra, Spielberg, 15 others selected for Medal of Freedom

By Nicole Duran, Nicole Duran

Published December 20, 2015

!--StartFragment-->

The White House next week will honor 17 Americans, four posthumously, by awarding them the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

They are honored for making "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to the White House.

The list includes four recipients who have already passed away: baseball great Yogi Berra; Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to be elected to Congress; Native American civil rights icon Billy Frank Jr.; and civil rights advocate Minoru Yasui, who challenged the WWII-era laws against Japanese-Americans.