Biography
Joseph Stuart is a scholar of African American history, particularly of the relationship between race, masculinity, freedom rights, and religion in the twentieth century Black Freedom Movement. His scholarship and pedagogy are built around establishing similarities, differences, and contingencies that reveal how groups fought for liberation in myriad ways. He assumes that there is no single movement or approach to Black freedom that can adequately the aims and desires of all Black communities—and that we do historical actors a disservice by flattening their decisions into binary categories. His book manuscript examines the Nation of Islam’s racial and masculine ideologies to understand how and why some Black American groups opposed integration in the mid-twentieth century United States. The project traces the Nation of Islam’s founding from its origins in Great Depression Detroit to its schism following the death of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1975 and its “restoration” under Louis Farrakhan in 1981.
Research Interests
Genealogy, History, ReligionTeaching Interests
History, Genealogy, ReligionEducation
- PhD, History , University of Utah (2022)
- MA, Religious Studies , University of Virginia (2014)
- BA, American Studies , BYU (2012)
Memberships
- American Historical Association (2025 - Present)
- Association for the Study of African American Life and History (2019 - Present)
- Organization of American Historians (2019 - Present)
- African American Intellectual Historical Society (2018 - Present)
- American Society of Church History (2015 - Present)
- American Academy of Religion (2013 - Present)