Martin Kilson facts for kids

Martin Luther Kilson Jr. (born February 14, 1931 – died April 24, 2019) was an important American political scientist. A political scientist studies how governments work and how people make decisions in groups.

He made history as the first black academic to become a full professor at Harvard University. A full professor is a top teaching and research position at a university. He was later the Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government at Harvard from 1988 until he retired in 1999.

Early Life and Education

Martin Luther Kilson Jr. was born on February 14, 1931, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. His parents were Martin and Louisa Kilson. His family later moved to Ambler, Pennsylvania.

Young Martin went to Ambler High School. He then graduated at the top of his class from Lincoln University in 1953. There, he earned a bachelor's degree in political science.

He received a special scholarship called a John Hay Whitney Fellowship. This helped him continue his education at Harvard University. He earned his master's degree in 1958 and his doctorate (a very high degree) the next year. Kilson also used a Ford Foundation Fellowship to do research in West Africa.

A Career at Harvard

Kilson returned to Harvard and started teaching there in 1962. He became an assistant professor in 1967. Just two years later, in 1969, he became Harvard's first African-American academic to get "tenure." Tenure means a professor has a permanent teaching job.

In 1975, Kilson was given another important award, a Guggenheim Fellowship. He became the Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government at Harvard in 1988. Early in his career, Kilson became well-known for his research into African American studies. He also advised a student group at Harvard called the Association of African and Afro-American Students.

Kilson also studied comparative politics, which compares political systems in different countries. He focused especially on African studies. His 1966 book, Political Change in a West African State: A Study of the Modernization Process in Sierra Leone, was widely reviewed.

After retiring from teaching in 1999, Kilson continued to write books and sometimes give lectures. In 2010, Kilson was a featured speaker in Harvard's annual W. E. B. DuBois lectures. He also wrote his final book, The Transformation of the African American Intelligentsia, 1880–2012, which was published in 2014.

Personal Life

Martin Kilson and his wife, Marion Dusser de Barenne, had three children. They lived in Lexington, Massachusetts.

He passed away on April 24, 2019, from congestive heart failure. His old university, Lincoln University, had planned to give Kilson an honorary degree at its graduation ceremony in spring 2019.