Skip over navigation

Rhett Jones

Professor of Africana Studies and History

Rhett Jones (Ph.D. History, Brown University, 1976) is Professor of Africana Studies and History. His areas of specialty include African-American history before 1800, African-American theater, Black/Native relations before 1800, Caribbean history before 1840 and race relations in the colonial Americas.

Selected Honors and Awards:

  • George T. Downing Education Award from the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society 2006
  • Community Service and Social Justice Award from The Pepper Bird magazine, 2001
  • Fellow, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library (declined) 2001
  • Certificate of Teaching Appreciation from Johannine Historical Society, the organization of history undergraduates at Providence College 1999
  • "Lifetime Achievement in Teaching" award from Onyx, the Association of Black Seniors at Brown University 1998
  • Ochillo Award from Southern Conference on Afro-American Studies for "Why Pan-Africanism Failed: Blackness and International Relations," as best article published in its refereed journal during 1995, in 1996
  • Certificate of "Outstanding Service" from the National Council for Black Studies 1996
  • Cited by the Association of Black Anthropologists at annual meeting for contributions to ABA publications 1993
  • "Distinguished Black Scholar Award" from University of Massachusetts-Boston, 1993
  • Award from the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society for "Outstanding Contributions to the Rhode Island Black Community" 1992
  • Regional Citation, jointly with George H. Bass from the New England Theatre, Conference for "original work on the New World and Afro-American Experience" Monarch Merit Award, jointly with George H. Bass, from National Council for Culture and Arts for sustained "excellence in Afro-American Theatre" 1988
  • National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship in Afro-American religion at Princeton University 1984
  • "Distinguished Scholar Award" from African American Museums Association, 1984

Selected Publications:

Articles:

  • "Mulattos, Freejacks, Cape Verdeans, Black Seminoles and Others: Afrocentrism and Mixed-Race Persons" in John L. Conyers, Jr. (Ed.), Afrocentricity and the Academy. Jefferson (NC): McFarland, 2003
  • "Black Creole Cultures: The Eighteenth Century Origins of Black Conservatism" in Gayle T. Tate and Lewis A. Randolph (Eds.), Made in America: Dimensions of Black Conservatism in the United States. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002
  • "Indian/Black Relations in the Americas: Past Paradigms, Future Possibilities" in Leonard L. Bethel (Ed.). Africana: An Introduction and Study. Dubuque (IA): Kendall Hunt, 2001
  • "The End of Africanity? The Bi-Racial Assault on Blackness" in Robert Staples (Ed.), The Black Family. Belmont (CA): Wadsworth, 1999
  • "Why Blacks are Committed to Blackness" in Janis Faye Hutchinson (Ed.), Cultural Portrayals of African Americans. Westport (CT): Bergin and Garvey, 1997
  • "The End of Africanity? The Bi-Racial Assault on Blackness" in Nikongo Ba Nikongo (Ed.), Leading Issues in African-American Studies. Durham (NC): Carolina Academic Press, 1997
  • Introduction to the Paul Cuffe Papers by Rosalind Cobb. Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1995
  • "Slavery and African American Culture" in Curtis E. Spence (Ed.), Inspirations: An Anthology of Multicultural Writing. Providence: Moses Brown School, 1994
  • "Nigger and Knowledge: White Double Consciousness in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in James S. Leonard, Thomas A. Tenney, and Thadous M. Davis (Eds.), Satire or Evasion: Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn. Durham (NC): Duke University Press, 1992
  • "The Discipline of Black History Since 1960" in Gerdes Fleurant (Ed.), Introductory Readings in Afro-American Culture. Boston: Ginn, 1988
  • "Pragmatic Education: The Senior Adult Learning Experience at St. Martin de Porres," in Carl Senna (Ed.), Knowledge for Better Living: Skills Development for Older Persons. Providence: St. Martin de Porres Center, 1987
  • "Black Survival Strategies in the Americas before 1866" in Creative Survival: The Providence Black Community in the Nineteenth Century. Providence: The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, 1984
  • Politics and the African Legacy. Providence: Rhode Island Black Studies Consortium., 1983
  • Themes in African American Reflectivity. Edited jointly with Julia Rollins. Providence: The Providence Public Library. 1983
  • "Proving Blacks Inferior, 1870-1930" in Joyce Ladner (Ed.),The Death of White Sociology. New York: Random House. 1993
  • "Introduction" to The Black Regiment in the American Revolution by Gary Puckrein. Providence: Rhode Island Black Heritage Society. 1978

Courses Taught

  • Afro-American History and Society before 1800
  • Black Social and Political Thought since 1960
  • Caribbean History and Society before 1800
  • Double-Consciousness in Afro-American Perspective
  • Images and Myths of Afro-Americans in New World Consciousness
  • Introduction to Afro-American Studies
  • Jamaica, 1655-1755
  • Oral History as an Index to Change
  • Ritual and Ideology in Afro-American Societies
  • Senior Seminar In Anthropology: Cultural Anthropology
  • Introduction to Anthropology
  • In History: Comparative American Slavery
  • First Year Graduate Colloquium in History
  • Indian/Black Individuals and Communities in the Americas
  • Multi-racial Societies in the Americas Before 1800
  • Problems in Afro-American History
  • Red, White, and Black in the Americas
  • Slave Societies in the English Speaking Caribbean
  • The Slave Community In Social Science: Introduction to Social Science
  • Sociological Approach to Black History