The Fellows Program is at the heart of the activities of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Founded in 1975 as the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research, the Institute has annually appointed scholars who conduct individual research for a period of one to two semesters in a variety of fields within African and African American Studies. With more than 300 Fellows as alumni/ae, the Institute has arguably done more in its short existence to ensure the scholarly development of African and African American Studies than any other pre-doctoral or post-doctoral program in the United States.

Many former Fellows are now major figures in the field, including George Frederickson (Stanford University), Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Harvard University), Nellie McKay (University of Wisconsin), Nell Irvin Painter (Princeton University), Arnold Rampersad (Stanford University), and Cornel West (Princeton University). In addition, numerous scholars who came to the Institute as junior faculty members are now senior members of African and African American Studies and other academic departments in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Latin America, and several African countries.

A residential appointment at the Du Bois Institute offers considerable benefits to any scholar. In addition to office space, Fellows have access to computers, the Internet, research assistance, and the extensive research and library resources of Harvard University. The Institute also has the Franklin D. and Wendy F. Raines Library in African American Studies, a small working reference library in African American Studies.

At the Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research scholars may pursue their research while interacting with other visiting scholars working at the Institute and at Harvard University. Fellows participate in a number of activities designed to further their research, the most important of which are the weekly colloquia. Chaired by the Institute's Director, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the colloquia offer Fellows the opportunity to share their work with Institute colleagues, Harvard faculty, and graduate students. Colloquia also allow Harvard faculty and visitors to present their work in progress, and have included presentations by such individuals as Wole Soyinka, A. Leon Higginbotham, Ira Berlin, Orlando Patterson, Jamaica Kincaid, Hazel V. Carby, and Zadie Smith.

The colloquia occur every Wednesday between 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m. during the academic year in the Thompson Room on the first floor of the Barker Center. Each presentation lasts an hour and is followed by an hour-long discussion. Media facilities are available, and media use is welcomed. The Harvard community and the surrounding Cambridge and Boston communities are invited and welcome to bring lunch. All Institute Fellows are required to attend.

Du Bois Fellows also have the opportunity to meet scholars from other Harvard Fellows Programs, such as the Kennedy School of Government, the Center for International Affairs, the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life, the Center for the Study of World Religions, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, the Loeb Fellows of the Graduate School of Design, and the Nieman Foundation.