Apropos of Africa: Sentiments of Negro American Leaders on Africa from the 1800s to the 1950s

Martin Kilson · A.Cromwell Hill

Oct 2013 · Africana Modern Library Book 7 · Routledge

About this ebook

First published in 1969. This is part of a series that comprises reprints as well as original works on various aspects of African life- history, institutions, culture, political and social thought, and eminent African personalities. As 'Africana' in the title indicates, the term 'African' is used liberally and includes persons of African descent in the New World whose life and work are clearly and deeply identified with Africa. The reprints are in most part landmarks of African writing and each will contain a new introduction placing the author's life, ideas and activities in perspective.

About the author

Martin Luther Kilson Jr. was born in East Rutherford, New Jersey on February 14, 1931. He received a bachelor's degree from Lincoln University and a master's degree and Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. He did field work in Sierra Leone under a Ford Foundation fellowship, studying the political system in that country as it shifted from British control to independence in 1961. When he returned to the United States, he became a research associate at Harvard's Center for International Affairs. He became a lecturer in government at Harvard in 1962, an assistant professor in 1964, and was the first African-American professor granted tenure in 1968. He served as the Frank G. Thomson professor of government at Harvard from 1988 to 1999, when he retired from teaching. He wrote several books including Political Change in a West African State and Transformation of the African-American Intelligentsia, 1880-2012. He died from congestive heart failure on April 24, 2019 at the age of 88.