Marc Lamont Hill is an American academic, activist, and television personality. He currently serves as an Associate Professor of Education and Anthropology at Teachers College, an affiliate of Columbia University. Hill is also an affiliated faculty member in African American Studies at Columbia University. He is currently the host of the nationally syndicated television show Our World with Black Enterprise.
From 2007 to 2009, Hill worked as a political contributor for the Fox News Channel, where he regularly appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, Huckabee, and Hannity.. 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.
In the fall of 2009, Dr. Hill joined the faculty of Columbia University as Associate Professor of Education. From 2005-2009, he was Assistant Professor of Urban Education and American Studies at Temple University. A well-regarded scholar in the field of educational anthropology and literacy studies, Hill's research focuses 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."
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. 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. Dr. Hill also works closely with the ACLU Drug Reform Project, focusing on drug informant policy.
In addition to his political work, Dr. 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. 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 semblence of justice."
Dr. Hill was named one of America's top 30 Black leaders under 30 years old by Ebony magazine.
Dr. Hill was fired from Fox News Channel on October 16, 2009. News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch publicly declared that Hill no longer worked for Fox during a shareholders meeting, in response to a question about Hill's "reputation of defending cop killers and racists". The question was a reference to Dr. Hill's support for Assata Shakur, who Hill says "is not a cop killer — I would never support a cop killer — but a wrongfully convicted political activist." Hill, however, remained oblivious to the sudden termination of his employment, even taking to his Twitter account to deny reports: "Relax y'all. Don't believe the internet rumors."
However, later that day, Hill confirmed reports to the Huffington Post, saying: "I am no longer employed by Fox News and grateful for the opportunity and I have nothing bad to say."
It was later revealed during an interview with conservative radio host Steve Malzberg that Hill had no information on why he had been fired, and that he learned of his termination via Google alert. On how he felt about being fired from Fox News, Hill said that he was "a little puzzled" and told Malzberg that he had no more information than the general public.
Though Fox's handling of Dr. Hill's firing was widely criticized, Hill continues to appear as a guest on many Fox News Channel programs, namely The O'Reilly Factor and Geraldo At Large, as well as being a regular guest on CNN and MSNBC.
