Albert P. Marshall

Albert Prince Marshall (September 5, 1914 – March 9, 2001) was an American librarian and educator. He was the director of multiple academic libraries, including the libraries of Lincoln University and Eastern Michigan University. Marshall was an active participant in the civil rights movement, serving in a leadership role in a Missouri chapter of the NAACP. He worked to fight discrimination against African-Americans in librarianship and held several leadership roles in the profession, including as vice president of the American Library Association. Later in his life Marshall focused on documenting the history of Ypsilanti, Michigan's black community members, earning him the nickname "Mr. Ypsilanti".

Early life and education Albert Prince Marshall was born September 5, 1914, in Texarkana, Texas. Marshall's father was a carpenter and railroad worker who died when A. P. was young, and his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri.

He received a bachelor's degree from Lincoln University in 1938, and went on to earn a second bachelor's degree in library science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1939.

Career as librarian Marshall created A Guide to Negro Periodical Literature by using three-by-five index cards to index scholarly and popular publications, as well as serial publications from fraternal organizations, professional societies, and colleges and universities. The guide gives a "unique snapshot of African American culture and politics before World War II" and is now known as The Marshall Index. In 1966 he wrote a book about the university's history, Soldiers' Dream: A Centennial History of Lincoln University in Missouri.

In 1969 Marshall moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan to take a job as director of libraries at Eastern Michigan University. He served as an councilor on the ALA Council from 1963 to 1976, and in 1965 became the first African-American to serve as chair of the Nominating Committee for ALA president.

Work as historian After his retirement from Eastern Michigan University in 1980, Marshall devoted his energy to historical research, especially the black history of Ypsilanti.

Legacy Marshall died March 9, 2001. Distinguished Service to Librarianship award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (1978) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award from the Ann Arbor Public Schools (1985) Distinguished Career Citation from the Association of College and Research Libraries (1989)

In 2018, Marshall was listed as one of the four most prominent librarians who stood to oppose racial segregation in the library profession in an ALA Council "Resolution to Honor Those Who Fought Segregation".