Born in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and raised on Nevis, he was one of the founders of the Barbados Labour Party.
[citation needed] Stevens moved to the United States in 1924 and graduated from City College of New York in 1933 and Brooklyn Law School in 1936.
[1] As the "Co-chairperson of the National Conference of Black Lawyers of the United States and Canada,[1]" he appeared as the defense counsel during the trial in absentia of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary at the People's Revolutionary Tribunal (Cambodia) held by the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea in Phnom Penh in 1979.
[3] [page needed] Stevens belonged to the New York branch of the Association of Democratic Lawyers.
[4] Stevens was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his public service in fighting for self-determination for Caribbean Islands such as his native St.