Manning Marable

Today at 5:30 pm in Roone Arledge Auditorium, Columbia is hosting a ceremony to honor the life of Dr. Manning Marable. Open to the public, the event is organized by CU’s Institute for Research in African-American Studies (founded by Marable in 1993), and the Center for Contemporary Black History.

Marable, a distinguished historian, activist, and mentor, died on April 1st. His death came just before the publication of his biography of Malcolm X, the culmination of a lifetime of scholarship. The book rigorously revisits all aspects of Malcolm X’s life, questioning much of what was enshrined in his autobiography. It is an eerie coincidence, New Yorker editor David Remnick points out in his review, that Malcolm X similarly died on the eve of publication of his book. (See also reviews from The New York Times and The Root.)

Columbia was deeply involved in Marable’s research. His digital archive and multimedia research tool The Malcolm X Project was both contributed to and used by his students, many of whom paid tribute to him on The Root and NPR.

Photo via IRAAS