Dr. Manning Marable, one of America’s most influential and widely read scholars of the black experience, died today from complications related to pneumonia. Professor of history and political science, and founding director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies
at Columbia University in New York, Marable was also director of the Center for Contemporary Black History.  Under his guidance, the center has devoted its endeavors to: the Malcolm X Project, a web-based, multimedia version of The Autobiography of Malcolm X; the Africana Criminal Justice Project, funded by the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation), and focused on strategies to empower ex-prisoners and communities devastated by mass incarceration; and the Hip Hop Initiative, in collaboration with Russell Simmons, using arts education for youth leadership development. The Center also publishes the quarterly academic publication Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, edited by Dr. Marable and distributed by Taylor and Francis.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1950, Manning graduated from Earlham College in 1971. He earned an M.A. in American History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in American History from the University of Maryland. He taught at several universities, including Cornell, Fisk, and Colgate, before accepting the position at Columbia University in 1993.
Marable has authored and edited close to twenty books and scholarly anthologies, including: The Great Wells of Democracy: The Meaning of Race in American Life ; Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal: An African-American Anthology; Black Liberation in Conservative America; Beyond Black and White; Race, Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990; W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat. His long-awaited biography of Malcolm X : Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, is scheduled for release on Monday April 4.
Dr. Marable was a committed collaborator and friend of the King Institute; he will be greatly missed.