Black faculty in the College say they have a responsibility, and an opportunity, that their colleagues may not share.

Their scholarship and teaching involve giving voice to a perspective that until the 1960s, was not heard in higher education.

"I feel a special pressure to encourage, to recognize and to legitimize the experience of a group of people the academy has tended to disregard, undervalue, to rate as lesser or inferior," says J. Lorand Matory, professor of Afro-American studies and anthropology.

Furthermore, black professors often feel that their students expect them to represent the vast and diverse black community.

"I think that there are some proportion of white students who look at me and don't just see professor but see Black Professor." Matory says. "They want to see what Black Professor has to say about X, Y and Z."

Because of their race, black professors such as Lawrence D. Bobo say they have "a heigtened social pressure to be a positive role model."

It is an obligation conferred on them "whether one wants it or not and whether one thinks it fair or not," says Bobo, professor of sociology and Afro-American studies.

For Matroy, Bobo and their colleagues in the Afro-Am department, these unique pressures are a challenge they accept willingly.

"As the old saying goes, `those to whom much is given, much is expected of as well,'" says Lawrence D. Bobo, professor of sociology and Afro-American studies.

`It Cried for an Explanation'

Werner Sollors, Cabot professor of English and professor of Afro-American studies, occupies a unique role in the Afro-Am department because he is currently its only white member.

Sollors says he first became interested in the field when he arrived in the U.S. from Germany at the height of the Watts Riots in 1968.

"I was really curious about such an explosive minority situation and wanted to find out more about the social configuration," he says. "It was something that cried for an explanation and there wasn't a very good explanation available."

In April 1969, under heavy pressure from students and a very small number of faculty members, the Afro-American studies department was founded at Harvard. A first, there was only one tenured black professor in the University, Martin L. Kilson, Thomson professor of government.

Kilson says there is a common thread that unites Afro-American studies professors with their colleagues in other previously-marginalized fields.