Manning Marable, a highly acclaimed and widely published historian who has written a biography of W.E.B. Du Bois, is the final speaker in Denison's "The Souls of Black Folk Anniversary Celebration." This All-College Convocation, set for 8 p.m. on Thursday (Oct. 16) in Swasey Chapel, is the last event in a celebration spread over two semesters at Denison University of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Du Bois' most widely read book,The Souls of Black Folk. Marable's topic is "Rethinking Souls: Celebration, Content and Context."

Marable is professor of history and political science at Columbia University and director of Columbia's Institute for Research in African American Studies, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Marable was selected to address the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in September 2001 in Durban, South Africa. He also briefed a White House task force on the conference during the Clinton administration.

The Columbia Institute undertook a comprehensive research project on the life of Malcolm X and Marable's Center for Contemporary Black History is now working on an online interactive window into the complex history of this seminal figure. Marable has written a new anthology,Freedom on My Mind: The Columbia Documentary History of the African American Experience, that depicts the diverse but collective voice of African Americans over the the nation's history and is pursuing a project to highlight a major civil rights issue -- the fact that nearly five million Americans have lost the right to vote permanently due to their ex-felon status.

Born in Dayton, Marable earned his bachelor's degree at Earlham College, a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin and his doctorate from the University of Maryland. Among his books are:How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America (1983), Race Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990(1991), andBeyond Black and White: Transforming African-American Politics(1995).

The W.E.B. Du Bois anniversary celebration began in the spring of 2003 with a convocation featuring Professor Kenneth Goings, Ohio State University. Students in classes from the black studies, communication, education, English, history, and sociology/anthropology departments have been involved in the celebration with assigned readings and in symposia held on campus. Du Bois wrote several critically acclaimed books in the fields of history, sociology, fiction and autobiography. He was a founder of the Niagara Movement that challenged the accommodationist politics of Booker T. Washington, who was the visionary editor of the NAACP's The Crisis magazine. Disillusioned with American society later in life, Du Bois moved to Ghana in 1961, where he died in 1963.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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