Robert Lee Allen is an activist, writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, and Adjunct Professor of African-American Studies and Ethnic Studies

Ethnic studies

Ethnic studies is the interdisciplinary study of racialized peoples in the world in relation to ethnicity. It evolved in the second half of the 20th century partly in response to charges that traditional disciplines such as anthropology, history, English, ethnology, Asian studies, and orientalism...

 at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. Allen received his Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in Sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 from the University of California, San Francisco

University of California, San Francisco

The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...

, and previously taught at San José State University

San José State University

San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...

 and Mills College

Mills College

Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...

. He is Senior Editor

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

 (with Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Robert Chrisman) of The Black Scholar: Journal of Black Studies and Research, published quarterly or more frequently in Oakland California by the Black World Foundation since 1969.

Books by Robert L. Allen

Dr. Allen is the author, co-author or co-editor of the following books:

• Black Awakening in Capitalist America: An Analytic History (1969)
• A Guide to Black Power in America: An Historical Analysis (1970)
• Reluctant Reformers: The Impact of Racism on Social Movement in the U.S. (1983)
• Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America (co-edited with Herb Boyd, reprinted 1996)
• Strong in the Struggle: My Life as a Black Labor Activist (with ILWU militant Lee Brown, 2001)
• Honoring Sergeant Carter: A Family's Journey to Uncover the Truth About an American Hero (with Allene G. Carter, 2004)
• The Port Chicago Mutiny: The Story of the Largest Mass Mutiny Trial in U.S. Naval History (1989, republished 2006).

Awards

• Guggenheim Fellowship
  Guggenheim Fellowship
  Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
  
   (1977)
• American Book Award
  American Book Award
  The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
  
   (1995, with Herb Boyd) for Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America
• The Joseph Small Legacy Award (1998) of the Black Hollywood Education and Research Center. The award honors Port Chicago disaster
  Port Chicago disaster
  The Port Chicago disaster was a deadly munitions explosion that occurred on July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California, United States. Munitions detonated while being loaded onto a cargo vessel bound for the Pacific Theater of Operations, killing 320 sailors and...
  
   survivor Joseph R. Small, Jr., a member of The Port Chicago 50 who provided the narrative for the first chapter of The Port Chicago Mutiny.
• One of 12 honorees of the San Francisco Public Library's Long Walk to Freedom living-history exhibition (2003)