Marne L. Campbell

Marne L. Campbell is an Associate Professor at Loyola Marymount University and the Chair of the Department of African American Studies. She received her Ph.D. in History at UCLA in 2006 and holds a Master’s Degree in African American Studies. She is the author of “Making Black Los Angeles,” which explores the intersections of race, class, and gender in early Los Angeles, and was published by the University of North Carolina Press. Her study emphasizes issues of labor, politics, and culture through the intersection of this diverse community with other communities of color. She has completed an extensive database of almost every African American family in Los Angeles (1850 - 1910).

She has published essays in the Journal of Urban History as well as the Journal of African American History. “African American Women, Wealth Accumulation, and Social Welfare Activism in 19th Century Los Angeles” was published in the Journal of African American History, and considers the integral role of African American women in securing rights for their community such as equal education and public transportation. This article also connects their experiences with those of black women in the North and South during the second half of the 19th century.

Currently, Marne is working on a book about crime and punishment in early Los Angeles. She created a database of every criminal court record between 1830 and 1900, noting crimes committed, race and gender of the victims and defendants, and sentencing. This book will explore the role of race and gender in the shaping of the local criminal justice system.

Marne is the recipient of several academic awards including the University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Los Angeles City Historical Society Miriam Matthews Ethnic History Award, and a Mellon Fellowship from the Huntington Library.

Her research and teaching interests focus on the middle 19th and early 20th century urban U.S. and has taught a range of specialized courses on U.S. Religious History, History of the West, Gender History, and History of Los Angeles, as well as surveys of American and African American History.