The sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode is challenging and hinders the growth of hydrogen fuel cells. Concerning kinetic values, platinum is the best known catalyst for ORR; however, its less abundance, high cost, and corrosive nature warrant the development of low-cost catalysts. We report the hydrothermal synthesis of two novel Mn-based metal− organic frameworks (MOFs), [Mn 2 (DOT)(H 2 O) 2 ] n (Mn-SKU-1) and [Mn 2 (DOT) 2 (BPY) 2 (THF)] n (Mn-SKU-2) (DOT = 2,5dihydroxyterephthalate; BPY = 4,4′-bipyridine). Mn-SKU-1 contains dimeric Mn(II) centers where the two corner-shared MnO 6 octahedra fuse to give rise to an infinite Mn 2 O 10 cluster, whereas the two Mn(II) ions coordinate to DOT and BPY moieties to give rise to a pillared structure in Mn-SKU-2 and form a 3D → 3D homo-interpenetration MOF with a twofold interpenetrated net. The pyrolysis of as-synthesized Mn-MOFs at 600 °C under N 2 produced exclusively porous α-Mn 2 O 3 composites (PSKU-1 and PSKU-2), with the BET surface area of 90.8 (for PSKU-1) and 179.3 m 2 g −1 (for PSKU-2). These mesoporous MOF-derived α-Mn 2 O 3 composites were modified as cathode materials for the electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen. The onset potential for the oxygen reduction reaction was found to be 0.90 V for PSKU-1 and 0.93 V for PSKU-2 versus RHE in 0.1 M KOH solution, with the current density of 4.8 and 6.0 mA cm −2 , respectively, at 1600 rpm. Based on the RDE/RRDE results, the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction occurs majorly via the four-electron process. The electrocatalyst PSKU-2 is cheap, easy to use, retains 90% of its activity after 10 h of continuous use, and offers higher recyclability than Pt/C. The onset potential maximum current density and kinetic values (J k = 11.68 mA cm −2 and Tafel slope = 85.0 mV dec −1 ) obtained in this work are higher than the values reported for pure Mn 2 O 3 .