“When I was a Master’s student, I made a discovery in the digitized archives. I found records of Henry Tutt, a Black man who was advocating for Black voting rights and petitioning for a name change in 1841,” Gavin Huismann shares keenly. “I still consider this discovery to be a highlight of my time as a student.” For Gavin, the archives aren’t just a space for historians, but a place for everyone. “I was a project assistant for Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara, as she was working on writing a new book titled Black on the Midwestern Frontier: From Slavery to Suffrage in the Wisconsin Territory, 1725—1868.” Gavin recounts that this opportunity to delve into research and assist a professor undergoing their own research was a turning point in his graduate studies that proved to have long-lasting influence over his work, both professionally and personally.
Three years following his graduation, Gavin currently handles a caseload of five hundred students at the University of Connecticut where he is an Academic Advisor. He notes that his work at UW–Madison as a TA for Dr. Clark-Pujara’s course, “Introduction to African American History”, where he worked with a class of ninety students, helped prepare him for his one-on-one work with students at the University of Connecticut. “It’s important to me that my students are seen, heard, and know that they are important,” he shares. “I have students struggling in their daily lives, and I feel it is so important to affirm a student’s humanity and truly connect.” While connection cannot be taught, only practiced, his extensive training and background in the humanities illuminates and informs his care for students and their college experience.
As an undergraduate at UW-Madison, Gavin became fascinated with the origins and traditions of the past. Dr. James Sweet, a professor of history specializing in Africans and the African Diaspora, electrified Gavin’s love for the field. “I quickly realized how much is omitted from traditional K-12 American and World History curriculums. I took so many classes that I obtained an African Studies certificate by accident,” Gavin shares. “Dr. Clark-Pujara’s “Slavery and Capitalism” and Dr. Plummer’s “African American History From 1900” were some of the most momentous courses in my studies.”
Because he is a recent graduate working with current students, Gavin has a unique perspective and a closeness in proximity to his own experience within academia. “Know that there’s not just one path for you,” he says unequivocally when I ask what advice he has gleaned and might share with students currently enrolled in Black studies programs. “If you happen upon an interest, especially while you’re still in school, if you come across a new passion, follow it because that is so special. If you have a goal that you’re working towards, and that goal doesn’t work out, don’t consider yourself stuck. There are many jobs where you can have an impact on someone’s life. I thought I wanted a Ph.D., and that wasn’t the path I took. Nonetheless, I feel purposeful and happy in my work.” This mentality of adaptability and acceptance offers relief to the mainstream narrative that students often hear: that education should center one’s labor. While practical, Gavin redirects purpose in higher education, reiterating, “Your interests are a gift.”
From the archives: Henry Tutt was a freedom seeker (formerly referred to as fugitive slave) who was attempting to build a new life in the territories, Madison specifically. It is written that Henry was a “free coloured man” from Kentucky. He chose to settle in Madison and wished to practice his trade as a “sadler” under the new name of Henry Early. The entire petition is interestingly written in third person (the petitioner requests, he is, etc.). Henry apparently arrived in Madison in 1841 and the writer of the document adds that Henry claims to have never had any family. This document prompts the question of whether or not Henry was an escaped enslaved person. He gives no direct reason why he wishes to change his name.