"The black intellectual scholar reality is the same as that of all the other ethnic white Americans, that is, to bring a deeper perspective to and open up another dimension of American history," he says.

As the first members of the department "opened up" that dimension, they encountered resentment and deep-rooted skepticism, Sollors says.

"There was an isolation surrounding Af-Am," he says. "There was an us vs. them mentality."

Sollors, who in 1993 co-edited "Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience at Harvard and Radcliffe," says black professors at the College have historically been concentrated in certain academic fields.

"At northern Ivy League schools there has been a concentration in African-American Studies, English, Government, Sociology and History," he says.

The Afro-American studies department began attracting national attention in 1991, when Henry Louis "Skip" Gates came to Harvard as W.E.B. DuBois professor of the humanities and successfully hired several prominent scholars in the field.

Professors of Afro-American studies say that today, with the cross-listing of courses and the mounting prestige of the Afro-American studies department, they no longer feel as excluded from the rest of the university.

"Rather than being isolated, Harvard Afro-American studies is increasingly seen as the model of the engaged, dynamic and innovative scholar," Bobo says. "My appointment, like that of all my colleagues in the Afro-American studies department, is joint with another department."

Sollors says that not only is there a sense of community, but "an extraordinary sense of cordiality and sociable belonging."

Planting Seeds for the Future

Many professors of Afro-American studies say they hope to urge their students to challenge preconceptions.

"I hope that from my classes [my students] willemerge more commited to a fair understanding ofthings," he says, "to learn that the perspective,the values and priorities they grew up with arenot the only tenable ones."

Bobo says he wants to pass on to his students aconviction that scholarship can impact socialissues.

"I hope that I communicate the value ofrigorous social science research to helpilluminate important social processes and issuesthat confront us all," he writes. "[I hope] thatstudents are inspired to think in new and evermore creative ways about the African Americanexperience."

Kilson echoes Bobo's sentiments, saying hebelieves that his students have a moral obligationto help the marginalized sectors of society.

Calling the average income gap in America"morally inconscionable," he says "the top fifthshould take responsibility for the bottom fifth."

Beyond Black History Month

While the importance of African-Americans inthe nation's history is being celebrated thismonth, scholars of Afro-American studies say theywant to promote awareness of black culture andhistory within the community throughout the year.

"There is so much exciting stuff being doneday-to-day in the field," said Adam L. Biggs, ateaching fellow in the Afro-American studiesdepartment. "I celebrate [Black History Month]year-round by virtue of my studies."

Bobo says he hopes to communicate that AfricanAmericans' "struggle against long, hard odds" andtheir successes and achievements "constitutepowerful exemplars of all that it is to be trulyfree and human.