About

Richard Roberts is the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History, Emeritus, at Stanford University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, obtained in 1970, a Master of Arts from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, earned in 1973, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1978. His academic background and career are rooted in the field of history, and he is associated with Stanford's Center for Human Rights and International Justice. His work and contributions are recognized within the university community, and he maintains contact through email and his curriculum vitae. Further details about his professional activities and contributions can be accessed via his Stanford profile or his CV.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• History
• Medicine
• Art history
• Law
• Surgery
• Pathology
• Medical physics

Selected publications

• Senegal Liberation Database Lesson

  Journal of West African History · 2025-01-01

  articleSenior author

  This social studies unit plan, aimed at high school history students, grows out of research into the registers of slave liberation created by French officials in Senegal from 1848 to 1903 and into the guardianship system that the French imposed to provide supervision for liberated minor children. It includes a series of classroom activities and assessments, a background essay, a set of primary sources, and other materials.World History, World History AP, African American Studies AP, and other high school courses. Likely placed in a unit on empire and colonialism. Students should have preexisting exposure to Atlantic revolutions, Atlantic Slave Trade, and Enlightenment. Preexisting knowledge of the history of Senegal is not a requirement.Through this lesson, students will develop their disciplinary literacy skills.Through this unit, students will work across scales to connect the experiences and perspectives of normally excluded West African youths to wider trends in world history.[Note: Some teachers may choose to do the Vocabulary activity first to give students terms to use in the subsequent activities. Other teachers may prefer to engage students with images first in order to help students develop some curiosity about the topic.]Activator: Analyze two images.Directions: Project the two images of the “signares at ball” and “dancing couple in Mali” (withhold captions at first). Ask two students to stand on either side of the projection to report what they see in each image. Encourage other students in class to ask questions and guess some answers. If students have already run through the Word Sneak Activity, then ask them to use some of those terms to describe what they see and/or wonder about in the images.Reveal captions for the two images—date, creator, title. Have students write down the captions and then record at least two “Yes, and” questions in their notes, writing one statement about the images (could be comparative statements) and then they write a question about the images. Stress that they should identify what specific part of the images captured their interest. Then, using vocabulary terms and citing what part of the source raises those questions, students write a statement or question about reasons formerly enslaved people might have sought emancipation documents from colonial authorities in French West Africa.Vocabulary terms: AbolitionCash cropsColonial ruleCustodyEmancipationEnslavementGlobal tradeImperialismMinorsNatural rightsPeanutsResistanceDirections for Word Sneak: Put students in groups of three, then give each student a different set of four vocab cards that include definitions.Tell them not to share their vocab words with their partners.Direct students to check off their four words as they use them in a two-minute chat about one of the claim statements posted on the classroom walls [use the claims from the Claim Activity below]. If they get stuck, suggest that they ask their partners questions to guess what words are on their list.Debrief the activity by asking students which words they struggled to use in their chats.Gather any questions or comments students have about the claims and the topic.Directions: Give students blank maps of Europe, West Africa, and Senegal, and ask them to identify locations of France, colonial West Africa, Senegal, Saint-Louis. After two minutes, help students who couldn't find the four places on the maps. Elicit prior knowledge about all four places to determine the level of student engagement about these places.Let students work in pairs to annotate the following timeline. Then, direct students to record the ranked and labeled events in their notes.Directions: Check the events in the timeline below that seemed to increase freedom for enslaved people in the French colony of Senegal from 1807 to 1905. Put stars next to the four that seemed to have the most effect on increasing freedom.Annotate the causal events as economic, political, or social.Claim Cards should be on a large index card so that there is enough space for a major claim and four supporting statements and one counterclaim on the same card.Note: Directions are written directly to students.Directions: Answer the document-based question by responding to the prompt below.Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which formerly enslaved people in Senegal gained freedom during the period c. 1890–c. 1905.[These are directions from the AP World History DBQ assessment.]In your response you should do the following: Describe a broader historical context relevant to the prompt.Respond to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis or claim that establishes a line of reasoning.Support an argument in response to the prompt using at least three documents.Support an argument in response to the prompt using ALL of the documents.For at least three documents, explain how or why the document's point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience is relevant to an argument.Use at least one additional piece of specific historical evidence (beyond that found in the documents) relevant to an argument about the prompt.Use evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument that addresses the promptSources for DBQ on Senegal Liberation Database: See Appendix II.Awa Diop was fifteen in 1906 when she wrote to a French colonial judge complaining about her guardian in the Senegalese city of Saint-Louis. Why did she have a guardian if she was freed from slavery when she was five years old, and why did she complain about her guardian? You will learn the answers to those questions in the following essay.We know that slavery existed in West Africa long before the transatlantic slave trade because it's mentioned in some twelfth-century Arab sources. However, later European demand for enslaved laborers for plantation work in the Americas radically changed the nature of slavery in the region. It was traditional for the monarchs of the Jolof Empire and smaller kingdoms such as Bawol, Waalo, Kajoor, Jolof, Siin, and Saalum to derive power and legitimacy from ensuring protection for their subjects. In return, the subjects owed tribute to the king. Most of those subjects were free peasants who had higher status than members of hereditary occupational castes and enslaved people.In the centuries that followed, Europeans initiated a huge trade in enslaved laborers for their colonies in the Americas. As the transatlantic slave trade expanded, this demand affected the relationships between subjects and rulers in West Africa. By 1500, some rulers derived wealth and power from the transatlantic slave trade, which also provided them with firearms that they used to raid other communities, capturing people to sell into slavery. The French established trading posts in Saint-Louis in 1659 and in Gorée in 1677. By the 1850s, French colonial Governor Louis Faidherbe led a push to expand French territorial control along the Senegal River and to the south of Saint-Louis. By the 1890s, France claimed nearly all of Senegal. Even after French abolition of slavery in all French colonies in 1848, however, slave trading and slavery remained in Senegal.In the 1700s, Europeans developed new ideas about individuals and their relationships to their communities and about liberty and freedom, which contributed to European and American humanitarian movements to abolish the slave trade. But it was the descendants of Africans who struck the largest blow. In 1804, after years of rebellion and war, the French colony of St. Domingue became the independent nation of Haiti, the first majority Black republic in the Atlantic world. The establishment of an independent Black state sent fear throughout the Atlantic world where slavery remained a legally recognized institution.Still, slavery persisted as an institution throughout what remained of the French empire, including in West Africa. However, under pressure from Britain as the Napoleonic Wars were ending, French Emperor Napoleon in 1815 decreed a prohibition on French participation in the slave trade, which contributed to the rapid decline in the French transatlantic slave trade.As the transatlantic slave trade from Senegal and the Gambia declined, French companies instead concentrated on crops useful to French industry and French consumers. With the industrialization of the cotton textile industry in France, gum Arabic, a product of that in along the of the Senegal became used in the textile In at the of the a World a by French demand for for did not The demand for to and these crops the of enslaved people from the Atlantic to the African By the the of enslaved people into in to how they were to the of enslaved In communities, enslaved people and their descendants were to the members of the French of Gorée and Saint-Louis remained with a of European colonial European and people of Most Europeans did not some from when their But if they they and Some Europeans set with African Some of these African may have and had with European the of West Africa and Europe, and some became and officials in their Some African the wealth of their European partners and some became were the of Gorée and Saint-Louis. Some of these African their wealth in enslaved people who European and officials with to and and to the that and down the Senegal River gum and to the As the of enslaved in these and as the of some African the of the work of enslaved people and In the of enslaved people in Saint-Louis was and in Gorée Most enslaved people in these two French as or as including who were out to French and were to a share of their France had French from in the Atlantic slave trade, slavery was in French colonies after It 1848 for a to abolish slavery in the colonies and to people from slavery. of the 1848 abolition that French that people in French were 1848, enslaved people gained their freedom in the plantation of the and the as as in the French in Senegal. In Saint-Louis and on the of officials freed people from some their in these two French Africans and to that their enslaved people were with activities or the who out as laborers or Africans and the colonial authorities were about of this that any enslaved the French be groups because it the to and that African of their to to their enslaved people from French with the of the colonial in Senegal with a to work were three primary to this they French from those not French and slave to not to what French was to the of Saint-Louis and Gorée and a they to those slavery in African from those from African from African were and to their slavery in other communities were in for a period for their to for their After this they were liberty French liberty changed the period to and then in to one increase in enslaved people their liberation with the rapid of that it a or for the liberated people to to and liberated people as they their to the of first Diop in the French colonial of of which each enslaved who to French colonial posts where French officials then into the registers the the of and of and of each enslaved who then a liberty in their The registers also into enslaved who at these French colonial posts were with one or who then that she was five years and that she did not know who her were or where she was In all Diop was as an enslaved minor before however, French colonial officials liberty then them to or in the of Saint-Louis and Diop during a of and social in Senegal and the wider region. her in France and in West Africa in part by that it help an to the slave trade in Africa. the slave trade was written into the of the of the in on with African and that the the use of French authorities in the were not to slavery. But by the under pressure from the the French and the this to with for Diop and the of liberated the French recognized her freedom, liberty and her to Diop the system of guardianship that the French had established in Saint-Louis in in response to the French emancipation of that liberated and in the the French to these people to In for and were to from their This after the state recognized that had majority a or when and who were sent to find or when the the a new in response to about the following their liberation from Diop years of a new of in the of did not with and in the of the of slavery and the suggest that liberated claimed freedom in Saint-Louis and other French posts after slavery and in other evidence that some Saint-Louis of had enslaved people prior to 1848, for to be in places where slavery remained to and then to who were French or who a French and other and liberated provided some of this and French and became and of including and to have their to help in the run and Diop have to be in the to have to the that and her of during their primary a and In the to in the documents about the report that the sent her on an to a of a with also one by for their The space be and Diop was not the her of and Diop and had to to the of French and French officials a majority of the liberated they in Saint-Louis from to to African Some of these people their African their and for work in the colonial of in Saint-Louis as or and they these to the their minor or from the African to they were an liberated the of work with other across the region. was an part of in Senegal at the of the to the of teachers who at colonial on African on their a and and other for their and as they they and In with their or to or a or which was with a specific occupational with in or other an to learn a or for in a French or sent their to this that them to the of a who to their in for them the with their to trading in the and other In their out to if formerly enslaved and of however, the social context and of work were with their in their communities, or a they were a and and or social the of and and they for the of that them into their communities as for for in some communities, and and for owed and to their who in were to provide for to that they and to their It is to that and communities and for to such an extent that colonial officials that did not in the they these officials or to the and were the other were and in these that the most and to were to and off from their and communities of by liberated Diop ranked below other As they not have from the social of and they not have to on a of to and their a and their of them to and they from the of which French of their these of her social and her to her the guardianship system was after the the their below and that some minor evidence that they were did not have that from before authorities because their be by those or by are and historical The that in are direct and of of one of these documents at the of these documents some of the system of guardianship in that the French colonial created in Saint-Louis and Senegal, after slavery was in those and throughout the French empire in was as a of order in the colony as formerly enslaved and the to they were and a of ensuring to the of slavery. But and the system from the of in By the when increasing in France and officials to slavery and in the of Saint-Louis had of this system for five and they had used it to a trade in enslaved people from the of Senegal slavery remained into the colonial The of this the Governor of Senegal, was the in that The Governor ranked and had for all the colonies the French West Africa In 1903 and Governor and Governor in an to system of guardianship In written after the Governor first the Governor why was Governor by that is on who had freed from slavery. that after the two 1903 had established a to of the and of these formerly enslaved had members of the to the status of those who had to is the by the the and had so the had not to find of the children. of and to France had not in the of Faidherbe of Senegal from and who had the first of was to be a of protection and for a free all it be for a of a trade in then out that during the claimed to have sent the to work in the to have them their to have sent them to the for a new this not be by or to have about what had to the children. of such were not Black had African and French or were that in the that it is that a large of in this were to and for their As for the in they to their most of the that they and this is the long after they should have their the of a in for the to to of the product of work a an had the to to for to give of the had from there is that the of had the effect of Saint-Louis into a of and to into under the of their liberty and with the of the authorities of the on to that of this have if the had to the if officials had and if they had that to the was so they find the who they had not already and individuals to the new to that off by The be to any freed to the that was set to or to had already to following the 1903 be also that the might to from the system and a different in this did not that this is what the to in the of the which is to in and The with a that the of be to so that ask other officials to for the Diop was In when she was about years old, she French of her liberation from slavery. The under which this are In this enslaved including their for where slavery was and before French because they had not enslaved with because their had not to or because they had or along the Other enslaved were into Saint-Louis from the to have liberated these their them before French freedom on their and then for or other to the of these through the officials as a system of and a to order in the it also to the of the in their do not know how or why in Saint-Louis in and the for her liberation do not her of or as they do for do however, that after her was to a who least by a Saint-Louis with French and African the of the was a and the of the that had created in 1903 to check into the and of formerly enslaved who under As you will the is is the in the French which also includes some and of this that the who wrote the a or had some literacy in French did not write it The also some of the other was at for to chat a with at and found that the to the at and she not to for have for or and it is who all of them for she do not to with any where they do what not they to all there was in the and it was the was when the they the to they are all all the that had to them to the that had when have some will and know that it is you who is the of and the of the and this is why to you so that you give and you to give a different was a colonial in Senegal, the guardianship this the on to the and that she and to as her to the that on the same the sent the on to the asking for an to of the following from the that the minor Diop or to on that this minor in her is the years that Diop to she in that and one her to a minor some and the to from this is the that they had her a Diop a of most she a and a from which she to and she was at the she was with these also a from one a in a that she or Diop these sent to the of to a of Diop a that had to this not be for Diop or for she sell them or give them of other were such as and Diop these that she Diop from five because she that ask after her with to do Diop had the she was on from that of these and of the of the had to this minor to the for a new that they had this she it by to the of the to who is by the that Diop was with her and her Diop as she claims in her The she is to as her is one who on that that Diop is not her and that she her in her however, did see Diop in the of the people who in her 1906 was also enslaved in In when she was French officials recognized her liberation from slavery because she was a an African to as her guardian in Senegal. the between Diop and the this one was by the system of after by an the of the this and was the of and her who she to as her had before the so that it her and with a and then that she is writing to provide with it is use to the any that is to that she and she not either or then all that she with a that as with a and that the guardianship had that to check in on of them formerly enslaved and placed with who had to before of the members were two were of the who had and some did not to the of those who that them and to the they to the that are to The to these people also and that they to before the because they find in their also that they had that the are sent to the same that this which in 1903 to then that was on a placed on by one of the at the of the were in of for a and mentioned that was also other from the The from to and the system to have at that of Slave Liberation in of the from to by and for the in they to their most of the that they and this is the long after they should have their the of a in for the to to of the product of work a an had the to to for to give of the had from the of the was a and the of the that had created in 1903 to check into the and of formerly enslaved who under the other was at for to chat a with at and found that the to the at and she not to for have for or and it is who all of them for she do not to with any where they do what not they to all there was in the and it was the was when the they the to they are all all the that had to them to the that had when have some will and know that it is you who is the of and the of the and this is why to you so that you give and you to give a different to of the following from the that the minor Diop or to on that this minor in her is the years that Diop to she in that and one her to a minor some and the to from this is the that they had her a Diop a of most she a and a from which she to and she was at the she was with these also a from one a in a that she or Diop these sent to the of to a of Diop a that had to this not be for Diop or for she sell them or give them of other were such as and Diop these that she Diop from five because she that ask after her with to do Diop had the she was on from that of these and of the of the had to this minor to the for a new that they had this she it by to the of the to who is by the that Diop was with her and her Diop as she claims in her The she is to as her is one who on that that Diop is not her and that she her in her however, did see Diop into the of the people who in her 1906 with a and then that she is writing to provide with it is use to the any that is to that she and she not either or then all that she with a that as are to the students of The History who provided with and comments on an of this also help in into a

  PublisherDOI

• Widows, “Ordinary” Men, and Levirate Disputes in the Early Colonial French Soudan, 1905–1913

  Ohio University Press eBooks · 2025-05-15

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Problems in Achieving an ‘Integrated’ Social Work Theory

  2025-11-14

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Need for a more modest and Rigorous Social Work Theory

  2025-11-14

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Artificial Intelligence as a Consent Aid for Carpal Tunnel Release

  Cureus · 2024 · 6 citations

  • Medicine
  • Medical physics
  • Surgery

  Background Hand surgeons have been charged with the use of diverse modalities to enhance the consenting process following the Montgomery ruling. Artificial Intelligence language models have been suggested as patient education tools that may aid consent. Methods We compared the quality and readability of the Every Informed Decision Online (EIDO) patient information leaflet for carpal tunnel release with the artificial intelligence language model Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT). Results The quality of information by ChatGPT was significantly higher using the DISCERN score, 71/80 for ChatGPT compared to 62/80 for EIDO (p=0.014). DISCERN interrater observer reliability was high (0.65) using the kappa statistic. Flesch-Kincaid readability scoring was 12.3 for ChatGPT and 7.5 for EIDO, suggesting a more complex reading age for the ChatGPT information. Conclusion The artificial intelligence language model ChatGPT produces high-quality information at the expense of readability when compared to EIDO information leaflets for carpal tunnel release consent.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sa1790 STOOL-DERIVED EUKARYOTIC RNA ASSAY APPROXIMATES DISEASE ACTIVITY INDEX AND PREDICTS THERAPEUTIC RESPONSE IN PATIENTS WITH CROHN'S DISEASE ON ADVANCED THERAPIES

  Gastroenterology · 2024-05-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Noninvasive Stool RNA Test Approximates Disease Activity in Patients With Crohn’s Disease

  Gastro Hep Advances · 2024-01-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background and Aims: Management of Crohn's disease (CD) requires frequent monitoring for disease activity and response to therapy. In this study, we examined the clinical utility of a novel stool-derived eukaryotic RNA (seRNA)-based diagnostic in patients with CD. Methods: Stool samples were collected from 68 individuals for up to 3 time points prior to, and after initiation of an advanced therapy. Stool samples underwent RNA extraction and sequencing using a custom capture panel (n = 1507 transcripts). seRNA signatures were compared to Crohn's Disease Activity Index scores and endoscopies, when available. Random forest models classified disease severity when compared to Crohn's Disease Activity Index scores. seRNA signatures were also used to assess expression of the therapy target and cell type abundance at various time points. Results: Across all 102 samples collected from 68 individuals, the classifier successfully parsed individuals with active disease (n = 37) relative to those in remission (n = 65) with 87% sensitivity and 77% specificity, respectively. A second classifier, which was employed on subjects with active disease (n = 37), successfully parsed individuals with mild disease (n = 15) from those with moderate disease (n = 22) with 93% and 86% sensitivity, respectively. For the 16 subjects with longitudinal data, seRNA expression of the therapeutic target (eg, ITGA4/ITGB7 for vedolizumab or IL12/IL23 for ustekinumab) as well as lymphocyte burden was correlated with response. Conclusion: A novel seRNA and informatic-based method reliably discriminates active disease from remission and stratifies mild from moderate CD activity. This demonstrates preliminary feasibility to predict therapeutic response and assess disease activity for patients with CD.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Su1160 DEVELOPMENT OF A SECOND-GENERATION MULTI-TARGET STOOL RNA TEST (COLOSENSE 2.0) FOR COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING

  Gastroenterology · 2024-05-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• ASR volume 65 issue 1 Cover and Back matter

  African Studies Review · 2022-03-01

  paratextOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  a vivid and revealing portrait of an African leader who was called at various times an imperial intermediary or

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• HIA volume 49 Cover and Back matter

  History in Africa · 2022-06-01

  paratextOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant K08MH001623

  NIH · $258k · 2003

Frequent coauthors

• Paul J. Low

  University of Western Australia

  51 shared

• Brian W. Skelton

  University of Western Australia

  29 shared

• F. Ulrich Hartl

  Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology

  20 shared

• Jean‐François Halet

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  19 shared

• Scott B. Shappell

  17 shared

• Robert Malkin

  Duke University

  16 shared

• Gemin Ni

  16 shared

• J.A.K. Howard

  16 shared