Marion Thompson Wright was an African American scholar in the fields of history, sociology, and education. She was the first African American to receive a doctorate from Columbia University. Her papers contain her unbound doctoral dissertation, diplomas from Howard and Columbia Universities, personal correspondence, documents about her death and estate, taped interviews about her, and a small amount of photographs.

Marion Thompson Wright was a leading scholar in African American education and sociology. She was born on September 12, 1902 in East Orange, New Jersey. She married William Moss at the age of sixteen and together they had two children, James and Thelma. Since universities did not accept female students who were married or had been divorced, Wright pretended to be unwed in order to enroll in Howard University. Her children were raised by their father, and later, Wright's mother. Wright later remarried to a man named Arthur M. Wright.

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