Manning Marable
Encyclopedia
William Manning Marable was an American
professor of public affairs
, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University
. Marable founded and directed the Institute for Research in African-American Studies
. Marable authored several texts and was active in progressive
political causes. At the time of his death, Marable had completed a biography of human rights activist Malcolm X
, entitled Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.
. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Earlham College
(1971) and went on to earn his master's degree (1972) and Ph.D. (1976) in history, at University of Wisconsin, and University of Maryland
. Marable served on the faculty of Tuskegee Institute, University of San Francisco, Cornell University, Fisk University, served as the founding director of the Africana and Hispanic Studies Program at Colgate University
, Purdue University, Ohio State University
, and University of Colorado at Boulder
, where he was chairman of the Department of Black Studies. He founded the Institute for Research in African-American Studies (1993) at Columbia University
, later appointed as the M. Moran Weston and Black Alumni Council Professor of African-American Studies and professor of history and public affairs.
Marable served as Chair of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS). Marable served on the Board of Directors for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), a non-profit coalition of public figures working to utilize hip-hop as an agent for social change. Marable was also a member of the New York Legislature's Amistad Commission, created to review state curriculum regarding the slave trade.
Marable was a critic of Afrocentrism
. He wrote:
It was reported in June 2004 by activist group Racism Watch that Marable had called for immediate action to be taken to end the U.S. military's use of Raphael Patai
's book The Arab Mind
which Marable described as "a book full of racially charged stereotypes and generalizations." In a 2008 column, Marable endorsed Senator Barack Obama
's bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination
.
Marable, who was diagnosed with sarcoidosis
, underwent a double lung transplant as treatment in summer 2010. Marable died of complications from pneumonia
on April 1, 2011 in New York City
at the age of 60.
He is survived by his wife, Dr. Leith Mullings of New York; three children, Joshua Manning Marable of Boulder; Malaika Marable Serrano of Silver Spring, Md.; and Sojourner Marable Grimmett of Atlanta; two stepchildren, Alia Tyner of Manhattan and Michael Tyner of Brooklyn; a sister, Madonna Marable of Dayton; and three grandchildren. He is also survived by his two previous wives, with whom he shared parts and aspects of his career.
The biography has attracted criticism. Karl Evanzz, the author of The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X, referred to Marable's book as an "abomination" and stated that "it is a cavalcade of innuendo and logical fallacy, and is largely reinvented from previous works on the subject".
University of Chicago
professor Michael Dawson defended Marable's biography stating Marable had "precisely focused on some of the critical central questions confronting black and progressive politics."
Author and journalist Herb Boyd stated he found as many as 25 significant errors in the book, some of which he described as "absolutely egregious". In response, Chicago Black publishing imprint Third World Press
released By Any Means Necessary Malcolm X: Real Not Reinvented By Herb Boyd, Ron Daniels, Maulana Karenga and Haki R. Madhubuti in October of 2011.
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention was nominated for the National Book Award
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professor of public affairs
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Marable founded and directed the Institute for Research in African-American Studies
African American studies
African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. It is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans...
. Marable authored several texts and was active in progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
political causes. At the time of his death, Marable had completed a biography of human rights activist Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
, entitled Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.
Life and career
Marable was born in Dayton, OhioDayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Earlham College
Earlham College
Earlham College is a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It was founded in 1847 by Quakers and has approximately 1,200 students.The president is John David Dawson...
(1971) and went on to earn his master's degree (1972) and Ph.D. (1976) in history, at University of Wisconsin, and University of Maryland
University of Maryland
When the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...
. Marable served on the faculty of Tuskegee Institute, University of San Francisco, Cornell University, Fisk University, served as the founding director of the Africana and Hispanic Studies Program at Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
, Purdue University, Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, and University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
, where he was chairman of the Department of Black Studies. He founded the Institute for Research in African-American Studies (1993) at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, later appointed as the M. Moran Weston and Black Alumni Council Professor of African-American Studies and professor of history and public affairs.
Marable served as Chair of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS). Marable served on the Board of Directors for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), a non-profit coalition of public figures working to utilize hip-hop as an agent for social change. Marable was also a member of the New York Legislature's Amistad Commission, created to review state curriculum regarding the slave trade.
Marable was a critic of Afrocentrism
Afrocentrism
Afrocentrism is cultural ideology mostly limited to the United States, dedicated to the history of Black people a response to global racist attitudes about African people and their historical contributions by revisiting this history with an African cultural and ideological center...
. He wrote:
It was reported in June 2004 by activist group Racism Watch that Marable had called for immediate action to be taken to end the U.S. military's use of Raphael Patai
Raphael Patai
Raphael Patai , born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist.-Family background:...
's book The Arab Mind
The Arab Mind
The Arab Mind is a non-fiction cultural psychology book by cultural anthropologist Raphael Patai, who also wrote The Jewish Mind. The book advocates a tribal-group-survival explanation for the driving factors behind Arab culture....
which Marable described as "a book full of racially charged stereotypes and generalizations." In a 2008 column, Marable endorsed Senator Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination
Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...
.
Marable, who was diagnosed with sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis , also called sarcoid, Besnier-Boeck disease or Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease, is a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells form as nodules in multiple organs. The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown...
, underwent a double lung transplant as treatment in summer 2010. Marable died of complications from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on April 1, 2011 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at the age of 60.
He is survived by his wife, Dr. Leith Mullings of New York; three children, Joshua Manning Marable of Boulder; Malaika Marable Serrano of Silver Spring, Md.; and Sojourner Marable Grimmett of Atlanta; two stepchildren, Alia Tyner of Manhattan and Michael Tyner of Brooklyn; a sister, Madonna Marable of Dayton; and three grandchildren. He is also survived by his two previous wives, with whom he shared parts and aspects of his career.
Malcolm X biography
Marable's biography of Malcolm X concluded that Malcolm X exaggerated his early criminal career, and engaged in a homosexual relationship with a white businessman. He also concluded that some of the killers of Malcolm X are still alive and were never charged.The biography has attracted criticism. Karl Evanzz, the author of The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X, referred to Marable's book as an "abomination" and stated that "it is a cavalcade of innuendo and logical fallacy, and is largely reinvented from previous works on the subject".
University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
professor Michael Dawson defended Marable's biography stating Marable had "precisely focused on some of the critical central questions confronting black and progressive politics."
Author and journalist Herb Boyd stated he found as many as 25 significant errors in the book, some of which he described as "absolutely egregious". In response, Chicago Black publishing imprint Third World Press
Third World Press
Third World Press is the largest independent black-owned press in the United States.In December 1967, Haki R. Madhubuti met with poet and activist Carolyn Rodgers and Johari Amini in the basement of a South Side apartment in Chicago to found Third World Press, an outlet for African-American...
released By Any Means Necessary Malcolm X: Real Not Reinvented By Herb Boyd, Ron Daniels, Maulana Karenga and Haki R. Madhubuti in October of 2011.
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention was nominated for the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
.
Writings
- How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America (1983) ISBN 9780896081659
- Race, Reform and Rebellion (1991) ISBN 9780878054930
- Beyond Black and White (1995) ISBN 9781859840498
- Speaking Truth to Power: Essays on Race, Resistance, and Radicalism (1996) ISBN 978-0813388281
- Black Liberation in Conservative America (1997) ISBN 9780896085596
- Black Leadership (1998) ISBN 9780231107464
- Let Nobody Turn Us Around (2000) ISBN 978-0847699308
- Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle (with Leith Mullings and Sophie Spencer-Wood, 2002) ISBN 978-0714842707
- The Great Wells of Democracy: The Meaning of Race in American Life (2003) ISBN 978-0465043941
- W. E. B. DuBois: Black Radical Democrat (2005) ISBN 978-1-59451-019-9
- The Autobiography of Medgar Evers (2005, with Myrlie Evers-WilliamsMyrlie Evers-WilliamsSynopsisEarly LifeLife with MedgarMedgar Evers MurderLife After Medgar'NAACP/ HonorsAccomplishmentsWhoopi Goldberg played her in Ghosts of Mississippi...
) ISBN 0465021778 - Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (2011) ISBN 978-0670022205
External links
- Manning Marable interview via Tavis Smiley (PBS)