Earlham Notable Alumni

Manning Marable was born in Dayton, Ohio, on May 13th, 1950. Growing up, he developed a passion for racial justice which continued throughout his entire career. As a high school senior at Jefferson Township High School, Manning covered the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, in Dayton's black newspaper, The Tattler, and subsequently attended Earlham College.

After earning his masters degree from the University of Wisconsin and PhD from the University of Maryland, Manning began his academic career as the director of the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University in 1982. He was also the founding director of the Africana and Latin America Studies program at Colgate University from 1983 to 1987, and held the same title in the African American Studies department at Columbia University from 1993 to 2003. Before teaching at Columbia, Manning was the chairman of Black Studies at Ohio State University and later taught ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Manning has been described as "one of the nation's most prominent Marxist scholars," and has held membership in the National Black Assembly, National Black Independent Party, and Democratic Socialists of America, as well as chairing the Movement for a Democratic Society.

Manning was an accomplished author and published over 30 books. His Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, was released just days after his death on April 1, 2011, at the age of 60. He was survived by his wife and three children. His posthumous Pulitzer Prize, awarded in 2012, was given to his wife, Leith Mullings, to whom the book was dedicated. In the dedication, he wrote:

"No one has made more sacrifices to realize the completion of this work than Leith Mullings. For more than a decade, she has been my constant companion and intellectual compass as I have attempted to reconstruct the past. This work is hers."

Manning Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, along with more of his works, can be found here in Lilly Library.