Manning Marable (May 13, 1950–April 1, 2011) was Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University. He is one of the most widely read progressive authors in the country. Marable’s political commentary series, “Along the Color Line,” appears in more than 320 publications internationally.

Dr. Marable's work is featured frequently in the national and international media as an expert on the history and politics of race in the United States. He regularly appeared on media programs such as the NBC “Today Show,” ABC “Weekend News,” Fox Network News, the “Charlie Rose” show, BBC television and radio, Japanese television, National Public Radio, and the Pacifica Radio Network. Dr. Marable also donated much of his time fundraising and speaking on behalf of prisoners’ rights, civil rights, labor, faith-based institutions, and many social justice organizations.

His foundational work is How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America. Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Yo’ Mama’s DisFunktional!, writes, “For those of us who came of political age in the 1980s, Manning Marable’s How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America was one of our bibles. Published during the cold winter of Reaganism, he introduced a new generation of Black activists/thinkers to class and gender struggles within Black communities, the political economy of incarceration, the limitations of Black capitalism, and the nearly forgotten vision of what a socialist future might look like. Two decades later, Marable’s urgent and hopeful voice is as relevant as ever.”

He is the author of many books, including Black Liberation in Conservative America (South End Press, 1997), Black Leadership (Columbia University Press), Beyond Black and White: Transforming African American Politics (Verso), Speaking Truth to Power: Essays on Race, Resistance, and Radicalism (Westview), and Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (Viking, April 2011). Visit the book's blog at http://detroitred.tumblr.com/post/4007091044/in-episode-3-malcolm-and-harlem-dr-marable