Randal Maurice Jelks is an Associate Professor of American Studies with a joint appointment in African and African American Studies. Professor Jelks holds courtesy appointments in History, Religious Studies, and is the co- Editor of the journal American Studies, as well as co-founder and editor of the Michigan based blog the Black Bottom.

Jelks is a graduate of South Shore High School (Chicago), the University of Michigan (BA in History), McCormick Theological Seminary (Masters of Divinity) and Michigan State University (Ph.D. in History); he is also an ordained clergy person in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Before joining the faculty of the University of Kansas, Professor Jelks taught at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Dr. Jelks was the 2006-2007 Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at the National Humanities Center in Research Park Triangle, North Carolina and in 2008 he was the Langston Hughes Visiting Professor at the University of Kansas in American Studies.

Jelks has published both scholarly and journalistic articles. He is the author of the award-winning African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids, as well as, Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement: A Biography. His research and writing interests are in the areas of African American religious history, Black urban political history, Black transatlantic religious history, and the history of American social movements.