Named after the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University (1895), the idea for the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research was proposed in the Report of the Faculty Committee on African and Afro-American Studies dated 20 January 1969. In May of 1975 in its progress report to President Derek C. Bok, the Institute's Advisory Board announced the establishment of four fellowships for the 1975-1976 academic year. The fellowships were intended to "facilitate the writing of doctoral dissertations in areas related to Afro-American studies." As such, the Du Bois Institute is the nation's oldest research center dedicated to the study of the history, culture, and social institutions of Africans and African Americans.

Today, the Institute awards up to twenty fellowships annually to scholars at various stages in their careers in the fields of African and African American studies, broadly defined to cover the expanse of the African diaspora. The Du Bois Institute's Fellows Program forms the vital nucleus around which a stimulating array of lecture series, readings, colloquia, conferences, and forums, as well as research, archival, and publication projects revolve.

In addition, the Institute is actively involved with the community at large through its Martin Luther King, Jr. After-School Program and its W. E. B. Du Bois Society. The MLK After-School Program, which takes place at the Ella J. Baker House in Boston, teaches inner-city middle school and high school students both African and African American history and culture, and computer literacy. The Du Bois Society is an academic and cultural enrichment program, designed to engage secondary students of African descent who attend academically competitive public, parochial, and independent schools. It provides young people with an opportunity to develop study skills and teamwork as they reflect on and discuss readings with Harvard professors and undergraduates.

Academic year 2003-2004 was a particularly historic one for the Institute. Formerly the Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research, it was re-named as the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research in order to recognize the rich diasporic scope of inquiry that our activities encompass. Additionally, in the fall of 2005, we moved the Du Bois Institute to a new location. For the first time, all of the Institute's projects are now housed in one physical location. The new center is an exciting hub of synergy and intellectual activity, an opportunity which is deepening and enriching our research by virtue of proximity and cross-fertilization between projects and scholars.

I am pleased to report that the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute continues to enjoy the support and attention of an international network of persons interested in the study of matters African and African American, ancient and contemporary, academic and popular. We invite you to join our circle.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor
Director, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research