Edward Mapp, a native New Yorker, earned a B.A. degree from The City College of New York, an M.S. degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in mass communications from New York University.

For numerous years Ed was a feature columnist for Movie/TV Marketing published in Tokyo. Dr. Mapp has authored various articles and published several books including the early work Blacks in American Films (1972), A Separate Cinema (1992, Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and African Americans and the Oscar (2008, The Scarecrow Press Inc.)

Over the years, Mapp amassed a collection of more than a thousand vintage black cast film posters spanning the decades since 1920. He has exhibited from the Collection at institutions throughout the U. S. and Canada. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution co-sponsored a touring exhibition of selections from The Mapp Collection in venues coast to coast over a two year period.

In 1987 Dr. Mapp was honored by the Mayor of New York City with appointment as Commissioner, New York City Commission on Human Rights, which he fulfilled for seven years. In 1992 Ed was inducted into the Black Collectors Hall of Fame.

Professor Mapp’s professional career in higher education includes appointments as Dean of Faculty at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Vice Chancellor of The City Colleges of Chicago and Professor of Speech and Communication, The City University of New York from which he retired in 1998.

Mapp’s activities over the years have involved service on various prestigious committees and boards including: National Conference of Christians and Jews, Brooklyn Board, 1972-81; Advisory Committee National Project Center for Film and the Humanities, 1974-75; United Nations Association of New York, Board of Directors, 1975-78; and Board of Directors, The Friends of Thirteen Inc. (New York City’s PBS station) since 2000. He was elected Chairman in 2005. Currently Ed is co-chairman of Thirteen’s Legacy Society.