Harold Steven Rogers

Distinguished professor and international activist Harold Rogers was born on December 25, 1942, in Cleveland. He attended John Adams High School in Cleveland before completing a B.A. at Kent State University in 1967. Rogers went on to study at the University of Chicago and earned his M.A. in 1973.

Rogers began his career in education at Antioch College, where he taught in the early 1970s. In 1973, he joined the faculty of the City Colleges of Chicago, where he has served as the chairman of the African American Studies Department for Olive-Harvey College since 1980.

Throughout his life, Rogers has been active politically. He served as a labor adviser for the state of Illinois for a number of years. And from 1987 to 1992, he worked as the district administrator for Congressman Charles Hayes. Rogers has been involved as well in numerous progressive organizations such as the Black Panther Party, the NAACP and Operation PUSH. He has served as an executive board member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists since 1975.

Rogers' political career has been international in scope. From 1972 to 1993, he was the Chicago spokesperson for the African National Congress of South Africa. He was also instrumental in bringing Nelson Mandela to Chicago in 1993 and helped raise funds for Mandela's election the following April. Rogers participated in the U.S. delegation to South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

His areas of expertise include global trade and economics, multiculturalism in education, African history and African American history. Rogers is a much sought-after speaker and participant in international conferences, congressional panels and university symposia.

Recognized nationally for his gifts as an educator, Rogers has been president of Black Faculty in Higher Education since 1980, a member of President Bill Clinton's Committee on Higher Education, and a National Advisory Board member for the W.E.B. DuBois Foundation since 1990. And he has presided over the African American Studies Program since its inception in 1980.

Rogers was interviewed by the history makers on April 7, 2003.