Marc Lamont Hill

Marc Lamont Hill (born December 17, 1978) is an American academic, journalist, author, activist, and television personality. He is Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He hosts the nationally syndicated television show Our World with Black Enterprise and online HuffPost Live. He is also a BET News correspondent and a CNN political commentator.

Career

From 2007 to 2009, Hill worked as a political contributor for the Fox News Channel and for NBC, where he regularly appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, Huckabee, and Hannity.^[1] Prior to Fox, Hill was a regular commentator on CNN and MSNBC, as well as Court TV, where he was a weekly contributor to the Star Jones talk show. In August 2010, he replaced Ed Gordon as host of the syndicated television show Our World with Black Enterprise.^[2] In May 2012, he joined Huffington Post as one of the 10 inaugural hosts of HuffPost Live. In Fall 2012, he served as Election Correspondent for BET's 106 & Park. In Fall 2013, he joined BET News as a correspondent. He also joined CNN as a political commentator.

Activism

Hill is a longtime social justice activist and organizer. He is a founding board member of My5th, a non-profit organization aiming to educate underprivileged youth about their legal rights and responsibilities.^[1][3] In 2001, he started a literacy project that uses hip-hop culture to increase school engagement and reading skills among high school students. He also continues to organize and teach adult literacy courses for high school dropouts in Philadelphia and Camden. Hill also works closely with the ACLU Drug Reform Project, focusing on drug informant policy.^[1]

In addition to his political work, Hill continues to work directly with African-American and Latino youth. Hill publicly argued for the release of Genarlow Wilson and Shaquanda Cotton. In the Cotton case, Hill organized a mass internet letter writing campaign that helped to place a spotlight on the case and secure her early release.^[4] Hill urged the public to write to District Attorney David McDade to express their concerns about his desire to appeal the court's decision to void the sentence of Genarlow Wilson, stating that in doing so, McDade was "ignoring the will of the people, the judge, and any semblance of justice."^[5] In May 2013, an article by Hill for Ebony.com entitled "Why Aren't We Fighting for CeCe McDonald?" won the GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding Digital Journalism Article."^[6]

Hill was named one of America's top 30 black leaders under 30 years old by Ebony magazine.^[7] In 2011 and 2014, Ebony named him one of America's 100 most influential Black leaders.

He is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Academic background

Hill studied at Morehouse College, but finished his undergraduate studies at Temple University, where he received his B.S. in education and Spanish.^[8] He also holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the intersections between culture, politics, and education. He is particularly interested in locating various sites of possibility for political resistance, identity work, and knowledge production outside of formal schooling contexts. Particular sites of inquiry include prisons, black bookstores, and youth cultural production.

In the fall of 2009, Hill joined the faculty of Columbia University as Associate Professor of Education.^[1] From 2005 to 2009, he was Assistant Professor of Urban Education and American Studies at Temple University. A scholar in the field of educational anthropology and literacy studies, Hill focuses in his research on political education, counter-public literacies, and youth culture. In 2009, he published the award-winning book Beats, Rhymes and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity.

In 2012, he gave the commencement speech at Sonoma State University.

Books

• Hill, Marc Lamont (and Mumia Abu-Jamal) (2012). The Classroom and The Cell: Conversations on Black Life in America. Third World Press. ISBN 0-8837-8337-1. 
• Hill, Marc Lamont (2009). Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity. Teachers College Press. ISBN 0-8077-4960-5. 
• Hill, Marc Lamont (2007). Media, Learning, and Sites of Possibility (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies). Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 0-8204-8656-6. 

References

External links

• Official website
• Marc Lamont Hill on Twitter