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OU Professor Emeritus and Activist Passes Away
< < Back toRobert N. Rhodes, Professor Emeritus of African American Studies, passed away on Dec. 4. He began his career as an activist and concluded it at Ohio University, where he inspired generations of students.
“The Department of African American Studies mourns the passing of Robert Rhodes, former faculty and chairperson,” says Dr. Robin Muhammad, Professor and Chair of African American Studies at Ohio University. “Bob Rhodes was an Associate Professor of AAS in the 1980s and 1990s. He developed several courses in African American history, economics, and government. Former students and colleagues recall his energetic support of critical discussions around historical and contemporary issues. A long-time jazz enthusiast, Bob Rhodes is fondly remembered for the breadth of his cultural and intellectual engagement. He retired to Chicago but visited Athens several times and was a welcome presence at the Black Alumni Reunions.”
Rhodes was among the very early proponents of African American studies.
Before coming to Ohio University, Rhodes led the Black Studies program at Antioch College, where the Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Education wielded the 1964 Civil Rights Law to threaten Antioch with the loss of federal funding over development of the Afro-American Studies Institute, citing discrimination against white students, writes Stephen C. Ferguson II in the book Philosophy of African American Studies: Nothing Left of Blackness.
“Black Leftist activists were significant players during the early period of Black Studies,” writes Ferguson. He includes Rhodes among the significant players during this time, noting that Rhodes taught African American Studies courses at the Antioch College branch campus in Washington, D.C. Ferguson also cites Rhodes’ analysis of the African American National Conference on Africa, an article titled “Internationalism and Social Consequences in the Black Community” in Freedomways 12 (1972). Freedomways was a leading African American journal published from 1961-85.
Martha Biondi writes in her book The Black Revolution on Campus that Rhodes led study groups the University of Chicago in 1968, at a time of an emerging black liberation movement, and taught briefly in “Communiversity,” where he was a popular teacher of weekend courses on political economy.
Just a few months ago, Rhodes did a recorded interview with Jared A. Ball at imixwhatilike!
“Bob Rhodes is a legendary self-proclaimed (accurately) ‘idea man’ who prefers the background to the limelight. He is one of the most brilliant still-living true black leftists who has yet maintained strong ties with the black nationalist community,” writes Ball. I had a chance to capture this portion of a conversationwe had in the office of Dr. Conrad Worrill at the Jacob Carruthers Institute for Inner City Studies in Chicago Feb. 21, 2015, as we set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination.”
Rhodes earned an M.A. at the University of Cincinnati and an M.S. at Atlanta University.
You can read more about his life and his students’ memories here.