Jane Rhodes

Jane Rhodes is a Professor of Black Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago, specializing in the intersection of mass media, African American history, and social movements. Her research explores how marginalized communities use media as tools for resistance and empowerment, with a focus on gender dynamics and transnational Black identities.

• Education: PhD from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1992), MA (1984) and BS (1977) from Syracuse University.

Rhodes' work spans historical analysis of the Black press (e.g., her award-winning Mary Ann Shadd Cary) to contemporary media's role in Black Power movements (e.g., Framing the Black Panthers). She currently investigates transnational Black subjectivity through a biography of psychoanalyst Marie Battle Singer and a book-in-progress, Rebel Media, examining media's role in cultural-political exchange.

Selected Publications: Mary Ann Shadd Cary: The Black Press and Protest in the Nineteenth Century (Indiana University Press, 1998, 2nd ed. in development), Framing the Black Panthers (University of Illinois Press, 2017).

• Honors: Best Book in Mass Communication History (AEJMC), Radcliffe fellowship, and international visiting fellowships.

Rhodes' scholarship bridges historical and modern contexts, emphasizing media's transformative potential in racial and gender justice discourses.