The Department of African American Studies gathered to mark its 55th anniversary this fall with a four-day symposium, examining the department’s evolution and enduring influence on scholarship and community-based engagement since its founding after the Black Student Strike of 1969. The symposium offered space to reflect on fifty-five years of teaching, research, and steadfast connections made while considering new developments within the discipline.
Each day featured a keynote conversation with an alum whose career reflects the reach and relevance of African American Studies. The department welcomed back Dr. Crystal Moten, the Curator of Collection and Exhibitions for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Class of 2006), Dr. Tanisha Ford, a Professor of History for the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (Class of 2005), Melvina Young, a Master Writer and Creative for Hallmark Cards, Inc. (Class of 1990), and Reverend Dr. Alex Gee, the CEO of The Center for Black Excellence and Culture (Class of 1985). Each of their remarks connected their personal journeys and careers to broader histories of Black study and leadership in their communities.
Framed around the theme “Celebrating Fifty-Five Years of Scholarship, Leadership, and Activism,” the symposium showcased how African American Studies at UW–Madison has grown into a nationally recognized department shaping conversations across history, sociology, literature, political science, and the arts. Faculty, alumni, and students engaged with the department’s lineage and examined how scholarship on Black life responds to shifting political and cultural environments.
Across four days of programming, the symposium’s panels demonstrated the breadth of Black studies. “Histories of the Black Radical Tradition and Its Continued Impact,” featuring Dr. Holly McGee (University of Cincinnati), Dr. Brenda Gayle Plummer (UW–Madison), and Dr. William Sturkey (University of Pennsylvania), examined NAACP history, international relations, Black community-building at a PWI, and Black feminist inquiry. In “Research in Action: Social Science Approaches to Black Health and Community Wellbeing,” Dr. Catasha Davis of Point North, Joshua Wright from the Carbone Cancer Center, and De’Kendrea Stamps from Madison Gas & Electric, discussed how training in African American Studies informs public health initiatives focused on equity and care.
“Black Artists in the Midwest: Creating Space for Collective Healing” brought together Catrina Sparkman, Owner of the Creators Cottage, Verlena Johnson, an independent artist, Lilada Gee of Defending Black Girlhood, and Anthony Black, a professor of African American Studies at UW–Madison, to examine how creative practice shapes memory and belonging through practice, self-portraiture, and community wellbeing.
Saturday’s sessions highlighted emerging research within the discipline. In “New Frontiers in African American Studies,” four scholars, Dr. Jessica Lee Stovall (UW-Madison), Dr. Andrene Wright-Johnson (UW-Madison), Dr. Miya Williams Fayne (UW-Madison), and Dr. LaShawn Faith Washington (University of Texas-Austin), shared research in digital media studies, Black political thought, and Black education. Dr. Stovall and Dr. Clark-Pujara shared plans for a forthcoming Freedom School in Madison. “New Visions, Bold Futures: Students Transforming African American Scholarship”, an entirely student-led panel, centered undergraduate researchers whose work engages health equity, community organizing, and spoken word poetry.
Additional sessions on digital storytelling, archives, and the humanities, as well as a closing roundtable honoring the department’s legacy, highlighted the fields’ continuing vitality and reach through new faculty members Dr. Sabrina Thomas and Dr. Max Felker-Kantor.
As the symposium concluded, a central message was clear: African American Studies at UW–Madison remains committed to rigorous, social-oriented scholarship that examines Black life locally, nationally, and globally. The conversations of the weekend reaffirmed the department’s longstanding mission and readiness to shape the next generation of scholars, artists, and community leaders to foster deliberate change within society while always honoring the legacy of those who came before, and those who made this work possible.
Read the full program, panelist biographies, and view event photographs here.