In the wake of student activism, our department offered its first classes fifty-five years ago, in the fall of 1970. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 sparked a wave of student protests on college campuses across the country. Black students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison reacted by orchestrating a series of strikes to demand that the university’s administration institute a program of study centering African Americans. Since 1970, the department has educated thousands of students about the history, culture, and literature of Black people in America. Many of our alumni are now teaching in high schools, colleges, and universities throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa.
The Department of African American Studies offers a wide range of courses across the humanities and social sciences that facilitate a deep appreciation for American democracy and citizenship. Our discussion-based courses provide students with an opportunity to talk with folks who have fundamentally different life experiences. We understand that the ability to discuss complex issues across differences is essential to a healthy democracy. Centering the experiences of Black Americans allows students to think beyond the rhetoric of democracy and imagine how to make liberty a reality. We believe that learning the complexities of our world can help us change it. We believe that the ability to engage in complex and often difficult dialogue is essential for a healthy and thriving democratic republic. Moreover, we have the privilege of learning from our students.
Every course in our department shares a learning goal centered around citizenship: to improve critical reading, writing, speaking, and thinking skills. We are specifically concerned with teaching our students how to harbor healthy skepticism toward knowledge claims. We want our students to contribute to and lead a well-rounded, informed, and educated citizenry. These skills are needed now more than ever.
As the semester comes to a close and we recognize our fifty-fifth anniversary as a department on UW–Madison’s campus, we draw on and honor the student activists whose conviction for a more just campus and society made our work here today possible.
— Christy Clark-Pujara