Richard Walter Thomas

Richard Walter Thomas (born April 2, 1939) is a retired African-American professor of Michigan State University known for his work in black issues and race relations. He has published a number of scholarly works, his poetry has been gathered in various anthologies, and he has given a variety of talks, workshops, and interviews on issues of race and race relations.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, in his later youth Thomas was introduced to the early forms of black power movements and joined the Baháʼí Faith in 1962. He met people like Margaret Danner and Ron Milner. Thomas then became a student at Michigan State University (MSU) in 1966. When he returned home that summer he experienced the 1967 Detroit riot, and after some campus activism and success publishing, in his junior year he attended the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr. and began an activism on race issues on and beyond campus. In his senior year Thomas founded an assistance program for black students on campus, wrote for the campus newspaper and transitioned directly to a Master's Degree program. In 1970 Thomas graduated and joined the staff of the new Center for Urban Affairs on campus and his poetry was included in A galaxy of black writing. Around the same time Thomas married South Carolinian June Manning. Before coming to MSU in 1968 she had been part of the reaction to the Orangeburg massacre. Both continued to hold various positions over the next few years and by 1976 they had two children and both began to pursue PhDs at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor – he finished his in 1976 on black history of Detroit from 1915 to 1945 and she finished hers in 1977.

Returning to MSU in 1979, Thomas started as an associate professor of racial and ethnic studies working in the department's new program in the study of human rights. It was the first campus program that would feature African-American history as well as examples from the wider world of race issues and the work being done to address them. That year he also co-wrote the book Blacks and Chicanos in Urban Michigan. The Thomas' kept up service and visibility in the Baháʼí community such as being present for the 50th anniversary of Louhelen Baháʼí School. Thomas gave a 30 minute talk at the 9th Association of Baháʼí Studies (ABS) conference in 1984 and would continue to contribute to ABS conferences and publications in succeeding years: a day-long seminar on inter-cultural issues, a convener and editor for invited papers on "Models of racial unity" and the Hasan M. Balyuzi Memorial Lectureship. He also contributed a chapter to a book Circle of Unity. Thomas also began to make appearances at and gave assistance to initiatives on race justice and equality in communities such as in Chicago at an award-winning program.

In 1987 Thomas was named a professor at MSU and co-wrote Detroit: Race and Uneven Development via Temple University Press, a text that has been updated and printed by MSU Press. His contribution highlighted what Thomas began to think of as the "Other Tradition" of black-white cooperation, anti-racism. That same year Thomas became a founding member of the Black Men's Gathering (BMG) to encourage the leadership of service of black men in the religion. In 1992 Thomas revised his PhD and published Life for Us is what We Make it: Building Black Community in Detroit, 1915–1945 through Indiana University Press and the Thomas' were also noted attending the Baháʼí World Congress. Now using the term "The Other Tradition", in 1993 Thomas wrote Racial Unity: An Imperative for Social Progress and Understanding interracial unity: a study of U.S. race relations. 1996 was the beginning of the implementation of the Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience (MRULE) project at MSU he founded with one of his advanced degree students and was eventually the subject of several advanced degrees at several universities. In 1997 Thomas contributed a chapter to a book on how non-profit non-governmental organizations contributed to social justice in Social justice philanthropy reviewing the American Baháʼí community as one case. Since 1997 Thomas had often been elected annually to the Regional Baháʼí Council of the area – a mid-level institution with responsibilities over Baháʼí communities in several states. In 2002 Thomas wrote Bridging Racial Divides in Michigan's Urban Communities published through MSU Press and several decades of work culminated in the text Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Baháʼís in North America, 1898–2004 with Thomas as a co-editor, wrote three chapters of it, and was published by the US Baháʼí Publishing Trust. In 2007 Thomas contributed to The State of black Michigan, 1967–2007 by MSU Press and his poetry was included in Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing.

In 2012 Thomas retired from MSU. In 2013 he wrote and co-wrote two texts – Disenfranchisement: Social Health Issues and Implications and Detroit: Race Riots, Racial Conflicts, and Efforts to Bridge the Racial Divide. Since 2015 he has made several appearances discussing "The Other Tradition" theme.