Stephen Ward is a historian who teaches in the RC Social Theory and Practice program (STP), as well as the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS). His teaching and writing focus on two areas of recent American history. One is the African American political thought and social movements, particularly the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The other area is the evolution of cities since World War II, with an emphasis on grassroots activism and community-based approaches to urban redevelopment. Much of his work focuses on the city of Detroit. He is completing a dual-biography of two long-time Detroit activists, James and Grace Lee Boggs, and he is a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, a community-based organization in Detroit.
Stephen also serves as the academic advisor and coordinator of the RC’s Urban and Community Studies minor (UCS), which aims to facilitate students’ active engagement with local communities while fostering the integration of their practical experience with classroom instruction. In this role, he helped to establish the Semester in Detroit program, an exciting new program open to all students regardless of your familiarity with the city. He is committed to both UCS and Semester in Detroit because they offer students coordinated opportunities to integrate community work into their academic program and, if they wish, to make community service an integral part of their college experience.
Recent Courses
RCSSCI 330, Urban and Community Studies
RCSSCI 461, The Algebra Project: Education, Citizenship, and Community Organizing for Social Justice in the 21st Century
RCSSCI 344, History of Detroit in the 20th Century
Selected Articles
“The Third World Women’s Alliance: Black Feminist Radicalism and Black Power Politics,” in The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights-Black Power Era, Edited by Peniel Joseph (New York: Routledge, 2006)
Books Published
The Next American Revolution: A James Boggs Reader, Editor (Forthcoming, Wayne State University Press)
