John F. Marszalek retired in 2002 as a Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus. He taught courses in the Civil War, Jacksonian America, and Race Relations. He produced over twenty doctoral and masters graduates, a number of whom are published scholars. He is the author or editor of thirteen books and over two hundred fifty articles and book reviews. Sherman, A Soldier's Passion for Order was a finalist for the Lincoln Prize, and his first book Court Martial, A Black Man in America was made into a Showtime motion picture and reissued as a paperback under the new title Assault at West Point. President Bill Clinton presented the family of the wronged black West Point cadet a posthumous Army commission during a White House ceremony. Along with Charles D. Lowery, he edited The Encyclopedia of African American Civil Rights, which the Library Journal named one of the best reference books of 1992. Three of his books have been History Book Club Selections. His latest book is A Black Congressman in the Age of Jim Crow, South Carolina's George Washington Murray (2006). He continues to lecture widely throughout the nation and has appeared on the major television networks. He serves on the board of advisors of the Lincoln Forum, the Lincoln Prize, the national Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and the Monitor Museum (Newport News, Virginia). Canisius College named him a distinguished alumnus, he received the Richard Wright Literary Award (life time achievement by a Mississippi author), and the Mississippi Historical Society presented him its highest award, the B.L.C. Wailes Award for national distinction in history. He and his wife, Jeanne, have established Library Fund Endowments at Mississippi State University and Canisius College. He is a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran. Since January 2004, he has served in the part-time position of Director and Mentor of Distinguished Scholars, the holders of Mississippi State's most prestigious undergraduate scholarships. He is presently researching a book on the development of the mythology surrounding Robert E. Lee and William T. Sherman.

Dr. Marszalek's homepage