Tony Martin, a prolific and sometimes controversial Wellesley College history professor who retired in 2007, has died at the age of 70 in Trinidad & Tobago.
Martin, who began teaching at the college in 1973 and was a founding member of its Department of Africana Studies, wrote/compiled/edited more than a dozen books, including a number focused on pan-Africanism and Jamaican politician Marcus Garvey. Martin also made headlines due to several high profile legal tangles during his tenure at Wellesley, most famously with classics professor Mary Lefkowitz regarding Martin’s writings on the role of Jewish people in the American slave trade.
His passing has been acknowledged this week over social media by past students as well as current students who knew of him but never had him.
I was just quoting Professor Martin the other day and wondering if he realized the great influence he had on our lives.
— Makkah (@MsMakkah) January 18, 2013
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