NEW YORK (AP) - Denzel Washington did a lot to help black
colleges with his most recent movie, "The Great Debaters." But The United Negro College Fund is honoring him for putting his money
where his mouth is. The organization plans to honor both Denzel and
his wife Pauletta at its annual dinner in New York next month.

They will receive the Frederick D. Patterson Award for helping historically black colleges and universities and helping minorities pay for education. The award is named for the former president of what is now Tuskegee University.

Washington starred and directed in "The Great Debaters," a film inspired by a historically black college debate team that debated an all-white team at an Ivy League university during legal segregation in the 1930's.