Austin J. Shelton is Professor of African Studies at State University College, New Paltz. He was awarded his bachelor's degree and his doctorate by St. Louis University, where he began his teaching career. He was later a Professor and Assistant Dean at Mercy College, Detroit. As senior lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, from 1961-64, Professor Shelton was able to make a detailed ethnographical study of the northern Nsukka borderland area, a study which included the Igbo, Igala, and Okpoto peoples and languages. Professor Shelton is the author of The African Assertion: A Critical Anthology of Modern African Literature.
