Robert C. Hayden, president of the Martha’s Vineyard branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), was honored during the National Alliance for Black School Educators’ annual conference recently held in Indianapolis, Ind. Executives from Exploritas (formerly Elderhostel) presented Mr. Hayden with the Asa Grant Hilliard III Exploritas Award for Lifelong Learning.

Mr. Hayden was born in 1937 in New Bedford and graduated from the local high school in 1955. After earning a bachelor’s and master’s from Boston University, he completed two post-graduate fellowships at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds an honorary doctorate degree from Bridgewater State College.

A historian and educator who has contributed to African American historiography for nearly 40 years as an author, Mr. Hayden is co-author and editor of 19 books and special publications. With four decades dedicated to promoting education, Mr. Hayden says he owes his passion for history and accomplishments as a historian to the knowledge gained through his participation in ASALH since 1971.

A longtime resident of Martha’s Vineyard, Mr. Hayden served on the Oak Bluffs Historical Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is founding president of the Martha’s Vineyard ASALH branch and was elected to the group’s executive council in 1990; he served as the association’s secretary from 1995 to 1998 and from 2000 to 2008. For nine years he was chairman of ASALH’s national essay contest for graduate and undergraduate students.

Mr. Hayden held positions as a senior lecturer at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Northeastern University, Boston College and Lesley University, spanning from 1978 to 2006.

The award provides $5,000 toward an Exploritas program anywhere in the world.