An investigation of Federal funding for Afro-American related projects for 1978 through 1983 shows that, during this period, research in the areas where Afro-American research is overwhelmingly concentrated--the social sciences and the humanities--has not kept pace with the substantial increases apparent in the funding of research in the "hard sciences." In terms of overall Federal support, the total available funding in 1984 for psychology and social science is probably less in real terms (given inflation) than the amount available in 1978; humanities support through the National Endowment for the Humanities has also declined dramatically. More specifically, Afro-American research has suffered from the shift in Federal priorities toward the "hard sciences." The investigation shows that only the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has continued to emphasize Afro-American-related research, and even within this agency the number of studies of major relevance has decreased. Furthermore, the NIMH total budget represents a very small proportion of the total Federal research budget. Given this discouraging state of affairs, scholars in the field must work concertedly to counter these shifts and influence funding policies--as the fate of Afro-American Studies is very much a function of research funding, the destiny of the field itself is at stake. (RDN)