"The quality of Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham's work is terrific--this is a wonderful appointment for Harvard," says Associate Professor of History Ellen Fitzpatrick.

Higginbotham's first book, Righteous Discontent, focuses on the women's movement in the Black Baptist church.

She is now at work on a new book which will examine the relationships between race, gender and feminist theory, she says.

Higginbotham says her scholarly interests emerge from her personal background.

Her father was a scholar who worked with well-known professor Carter Woodson at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, she says.

"So this is a part of my family," Higginbotham says. "Even as a girl I knew I wanted to teach about African-American history."

The tradition of teaching goes back even before her father, Higginbotham says, as does a family link to her interest in religion.

"My grandfather was a historian and minister, and I'm following in that tradition," she says.

Higginbotham is a native of Washington, D.C.. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, a master's from Howard University in her hometown and a doctorate from University of Rochester.

She comes to Harvard from the University of Pennsylvania, where she held a tenured post.

It was the University's new commitment to a strong and interdisciplinary department that drew her to Harvard, Higginbotham says.

"Skip [Gates] is doing a tremendous job of building the department and I think it's a tremendous honor that they want me to be a part of that," she says.

"My own work is very interdisciplinary, so it was an easy decision for me," Higginbotham adds. "It looked like a great place for me to be."

She will teach one course on African-American women and may offer another similar to a class taught at Penn called "The Black Church and the Urban Challenge," she says.

But Higginbotham does not think her Harvard job will be easy. In fact, she says she is worried about the prospect of Having to split time between two different schools.

"Harvard will be... a challenge, though, because I'm going to split my time between two radically different departments, so I'll have pressure coming from two different student constituencies," Higginbotham says.

But Higginbotham says she is up to the challenge. "I accepted it and I look forward to it," she says.