Martin Kilson, author and political scientist who was the first tenured African American professor at Harvard University and who helped lay the foundation for collegiate black studies departments, which he sometimes criticized for a lack of academic rigor, died April 24 at a hospice center in Lincoln, Mass.

Early in his career, Dr. Kilson’s ideas of advocating for African American studies and for more black students at elite colleges were seen as radical. But his scornful view of politicized black studies programs prompted an outcry from students, administrators and other professors...” Read more...