President Obama is honoring 19 individuals with the Presidential Medal of Freedom award.

As the nation's highest possible honor bestowed on a civilian, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is given to those "who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security of national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to the White House.

This year's list of recipients are an eclectic mix of Americans. Three posthumous awards will be given to martyrs of the 1960s civil rights movement: James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. The three men were all murdered in 1964 during a voter registration drive in Mississippi.

Medals of Freedom given for public service will be handed out to Ethel Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy; the longest-serving and soon-retiring Congress member Rep. John Dingell of Michigan as well as NBC journalist Tom Brokaw.

Arts honorees include singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, composer Stephen Sondheim, Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, author Isabel Allende and actress Marlo Thomas.

Other members on the prestigious list are economist Robert Solow, Native American activist Suzan Harjo, golfer Charles Sifford, physicist Mildred Dresselhaus and former Rep. Abner Mikva of Illinois. A select number of other posthumous recipients are choreographer Alvin Ailey and the founders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Edward Roybal of California and Rep. Patsy Mink of Hawaii.

The distinguished group will be celebrated when they receive their awards at a White House ceremony Monday evening.

The day also marks the deadline for negotiations with Iran over the country's nuclear program. The U.S. and other allies have told the Middle Eastern government that it will reduce sanctions if Iran agrees to give up the means to make nuclear weapons. The Tehran administration says its nuclear technology is only being used for peaceful energy production purposes.