Carrington Accepts Fellowship

Walter Carrington '52, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, will be making a return to Harvard as one of 10 resident fellows at the DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research for the 1997-98 year.

Carrington has been an instrumental part of the Clinton administration's efforts to promote democracy in Nigeria, according to a news release. His project at the institute will focus on the erosion of human rights, democratic culture and economic performance under military rule in Nigeria--Africa's largest and potentially richest country.

"We are delighted that Ambassador Carrington is able to join this distinguished group of scholars at the DuBois Institute," said DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Gates, Jr., director of the institute and chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies, in the release.

"Their presence continues a long-standing tradition of promoting scholarship and intellectual exchange among the very best scholars in African and African American Studies," he added.

Other fellows this year include Richard P. Taub, the Klapper professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago; and two scholars under a grant from the Ford Foundation to support scholars of Africa: Madupe Gloria Labode of lowa State University and Ronald Kent Richardson of Clark University.

"The DuBois Institute is a catalyst for research and interest in Afro-Americana," said Richardson, who also joined Harvard's faculty this fall as a visiting professor of Afro-American studies. "It's difficult to think of a better department in this field in the country."

Alumni of the fellows program include Professor of Afro-American Studies Cornel R. West '74 and Professor of African American Religious History Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, and scholars Arnold Rampersad, George Frederickson and Kathleen N. Cleaver.

Twenty-five of the 1997-98 fellows are non-resident scholars, including Ted Landsmark, president of the Boston Architectural Center; and Noel Ignatiev, author of the critically acclaimed journal, Race Traitor.