[9][11] Stevens joined AfriCOBRA in 1969 after meeting co-founder Jeff Donaldson at the College Art Association Conference in Boston.
[1][9][10] He, along with other members, created silkscreen prints of his work as a way to make art more accessible to the general public; they were initially sold for only $10–15 at local events.
[8][12] In 1971, Stevens designed posters for a project at Northern Illinois University called Color Rappers, which aimed to raise scholarship money for Black students through selling art.
[14] The project was inspired by an experience in which a Black-owned funeral home approached Stevens and asked to commission him for a painting to replace their work of a blonde and blue-eyed Mary and Jesus.
[14] The works were sold as a series of calendars through Spirit Wood Productions, a group founded by Stevens and his wife, Martha Grier.
The mural was installed in the U.S. Department of Labor's headquarters in Washington, D.C.[25][26] Stevens' work has appeared in exhibitions showcasing art from various AfriCOBRA members.
[34] A one-man show of Stevens' work was shown at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1973,[35] and at the Afro-American Cultural Center of American International College in January and February 1978.
[19] The exhibition then transferred to the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Massachusetts, where it was scheduled to be on view from March until September 2023.