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 Ronald J. Stephens, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair
Contact Information
Phone: (740) 593-9306
Fax: (740) 593-0671
Office: 302 Lindley Hall
E-mail:stepher2@ohio.edu
Education
Ph.D. 1996, African American Studies/Urban History & Popular Culture.
Temple University
M.A. 1992, African American Studies/Intercultural Communication. Temple University
M.A. 1991, Speech Communication/Library Science. Wayne State University
B.A. 1986, Speech Communication, Public Relations. Wayne State University
Biography
Ronald J.Stephens'articles have appeared the Journal of Black Studies,The International Journal of Africana Studies, the Howard Journal of Communication,The Black Scholar, and Race and Society. His research and teaching interests are both interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary, focusing on African American towns and resort communities, African American migration and local histories, popular culture, and the Civil Rights Movement. He is considered one of the leading researchers on the Idlewild, Michigan community.
He is author of Idlewild: The Black Eden of Michigan (2001), a popular pictorial reader that focuses exclusively on Idlewild's illustrious history, as well as the decline and beginning of its rebirth. He has written numerous articles and historical reports about Idlewild, and worked as a research assistant to award-winning documentary-film producer Ted Talbert (Idlewild: A Place in the Sun, 1995).
Tony Brown's Journal's Idlewild: The Real Thing, National Public Radio's Idlewild, Flint's ABC 12 Special, Idlewild: Rebuilding Paradise, The History Channel's Are We There Yet? Americans on Vacation and Milwaukee's Black Nouveau's Idlewild, Michigan:A Black Historical Resort. The co-curator (with Marsha MaDowell of Michigan State University) of Michigan's traveling Idlewild photographic exhibition (2003-present), which has increased public interest and understanding about the Idlewild community, Dr. Stephens remains a strong advocate of the Idlewild community.
He is currently completing two scholarly book manuscripts, Idle Men and Wild Women in Michigan's Black Eden Community, and Robert Franklin Williams Speaks, an edited book about Williams' experiences in Monroe,North Carolina; Havana, Cuba; Peking, China; Tanzania, Africa; and Lake County, Michigan. Robert Franklin Williams Speaks addresses the moral paradox surrounding Williams' crusade as an international symbol of the black freedom struggle of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and analyzes Williams' boldness, defiance, resistance, and international influence.
Selected Bibliogaphy and Recent Publications
ARTICLES
(2008). Methodological considerations for micro-studies of UNIA-ACL Divisions: Notes on an ethno-historical analysis. Journal of Black Studies, Special issue on Garveyism in the United States, edited by Mark Christian.
(2004). Garveyism in Idlewild, Michigan, 1927-1936. Journal of Black Studies, 34, 4, 462-488.
(2003). Narrating acts of resistance: Explorations of untold heroic and horrific battle stories surrounding Robert Franklin Williams' residence in Lake County, Michigan.Journal of Black Studies, 33, 5, 675-703.
(2002). With M. Keavney, and V. K. Patton. Come colour my rainbow: Themes of Africana womanism in the poetic vision of Idlewild's Audrey Kathryn Bullet. Journal of Black Studies, 32 ,4, 464-479.
(2001). With E. Wright, III. Beyond bitches, niggers, and ho's: Rap music and the sociology of knowledge. Race and Society, 3, 23-40.
BOOKS
(2008). With La Wanna M. Larson, and the Black American West Museum. Images of America, African Americans of Denver. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing.
(2001). Images of America, Idlewild: The Black Eden of Michigan. 3rd Edition. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing.
Courses Taught
AAS 106 Introduction to African American Studies
AAS 3XX Field to Factory: African American Migration
AAS 254 History of Injustices in the United States
AAS 400 Research Methods in African American Studies
AAS 490 Critical Theory in African American Studies
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