Martin Luther Kilson Jr. was an American political scientist, who in 1969 became the first African American to be named a full professor at Harvard College. Kilson was the valedictorian of his 1953 graduating class at Lincoln University. Winning several prominent scholarships and fellowships, he earned a Masters and a Doctoral degree in Political Science at Harvard University where he wrote a dissertation titled “United Nations Visiting Missions to Trust Territories.” He was later the Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government from 1988 until his retirement in 1999.