By Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; C02

The Library of Congress will announce today that a pair of historians -- John Hope Franklin of the United States and Yu Ying-shih of China -- will be awarded the 2006 John W. Kluge Prize for the Study of Humanity. The two will split the $1 million award.

Franklin, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in a statement, "is the leading scholar in the establishment of African-American history as a key area in the professional study of American history in the second half of the 20th century."

Franklin, 91, won a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for nonfiction earlier this month. "I am not persuaded we have a genuine commitment to equality," Franklin told The Washington Post on that occasion. Franklin is an emeritus professor of history at Duke University and author of many books including the landmark survey "From Slavery to Freedom" and his 2005 autobiography, "Mirror to America."

Yu, 76, is an emeritus professor of East Asian studies and history at Princeton University. He has written more than 30 books spanning more than 2,000 years, the library's news release said.

Billington said that Yu's scholarship "has been remarkably deep and widespread."

The first Kluge Prize, named for the media mogul, was awarded in 2003 to Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski. In 2004, Yale historian Jaroslav Pelikan and French philosopher Paul Ricoeur shared the money. No prize was awarded last year.