Manning Marable (1950-2011) was the founding director of African American studies at Columbia University and the director of Columbia's Center for Contemporary Black History. He is the author of fifteen books and was the editor of the quarterly journal Souls.

Garrett Felber is a Ph.D. student in American culture at the University of Michigan. He holds a master's in African American studies from Columbia University, where he worked as lead researcher of the Malcolm X Project with Manning Marable.