One of six children, he was orphaned at the age of eight. For his early education, he attended Harbison Agricultural and Industrial Institute, a boarding school for African-Americans in Irmo, South Carolina under Dean R. W. Bouleware and later President Rev John G. Porter.\n', '

Stephens graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in 1938 with a B.S. degree in mathematics. He received his M.S. (1939) and his Ph.D. (1944) from the University of Michigan. He was the 9th African American to receive a Ph.D in mathematics––for a thesis on Non-Linear Difference Equations Analytic in a Parameter under James Nyswander.\n', '

After serving in the U.S. Navy (1942–1946) as a Teaching Specialist, Dr. Stephens joined the mathematics faculty of Prairie View A&M University. The next year (1947) he was invited to join the mathematics faculty at Morgan State University.\n', '

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