Born: Sept. 16, 1950, in
Education: Graduated summa cum laude in history from Yale in 1973. Earned master’s and doctorate in English literature from Clare College at the University of Cambridge in England.
Academic career: Taught at Yale, Cornell, and Duke before joining Harvard faculty in 1991. Served as chairman of Harvard’s African and African American Studies Department from 1991 until 2006, and now directs the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard.
Personal: Divorced, with two grown daughters: Maggie, a doctoral student in American civilization at Harvard, and Liza, a writer for The Daily Beast website.
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