Marcyliena Morgan

Marcyliena Hazel Morgan (May 8, 1950 – September 28, 2025) was an American linguistic anthropologist known for legitimizing the study of hiphop as an academic subject. She was the Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and the Executive Director of Harvard's Hiphop Archive, which she founded in 2002. It was the world's first hiphop archive.

Early life and education Morgan was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 8, 1950. She was born to Henry Morgan, a telephone worker union organizer and Juliette Murray Morgan, a data center manager, and was the third of six daughters.

Career A linguistic anthropologist whose work legitimized hip-hop as a topic of academic study, She was the author of Language, Discourse and Power in African American Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and The Real Hiphop - Battling for Knowledge, Power, and Respect in the LA Underground (Duke University Press, 2008). Bobo and Morgan remodeled the home, contracting with architect Mary Ann Thompson and consulting on the kitchen design with chefs Jody Adams and Aaron Sanchez. The remodeled Victorian has received recognition and awards.

Morgan died in Boston on September 28, 2025, at the age of 75, from complications of Alzheimer's disease. In September 2025, Harvard’s Hiphop Archive was renamed to the Marcyliena H. Morgan Hip Hop Archive & Research Institute in her honor. The Real Hiphop - Battling for Knowledge, Power, and Respect in the LA Underground (Duke University Press, 2008) Morgan, M. and Bennett, D. "Hip-Hop & the Global Imprint of a Black Cultural Form." Daedalus 140, no. 2 (2011): 176-196.