Martin Kilson, Harvard College’s first African American to be named full professor, dies at 88
Martin Kilson, a scholar of class, power, and the challenges facing African Americans, died April 24 of congestive heart failure at age 88. Kilson, who in 1969 became the first African American to be named a full professor at Harvard College, taught at the College for nearly four decades, retiring in 1999 as the Frank G. Thompson Professor of Government Emeritus. He died in hospice care in Lincoln, Mass. Early in his academic career, Kilson spent 18 months conducting research in Sierra Leone as that West African nation transitioned from British colonial rule to independence. The work resulted in the 1966 book “Political Change in a West African State: A Study of the Modernization Process in Sierra Leone,” and provided a foundation for Kilson’s work examining the interplay of power, political leadership, and race, both in Africa and in the African American community. Influenced by the scholarship of W.E.B. Du Bois, Kilson studied...