Melville Jean Herskovits (September 10, 1895 - February 25, 1963) was a U.S. anthropologist born in Bellefontaine, Ohio who firmly established African and African American studies in American academia. In 1948 he founded the first major interdisciplinary American program in African studies at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

Herskovits's controversial classic The Myth of the Negro Past is about African cultural influences on American blacks. He also helped forge the concept of cultural relativism, particularly in his book Man and His Works .

After World War II, Herskovits publicly advocated African independence and also attacked American politicians for viewing Africa as an object of Cold War strategy.

Herskovits died in Evanston.

The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University, established in 1954, is the largest separate collection of Africana in the world.

Further reading

• Jerry Gershenhorn : Melville J. Herskovits and the Racial Politics of Knowledge (2004) (ISBN 0803221878).