The 2025–2026 academic year has been a banner year for the Department of African American Studies. We celebrated our 55th anniversary with a three-day symposium attended by over 100 alumni, faculty, students, staff, administrators, friends of the department, and community members. We welcomed two new faculty members, Professors Sabrina Thomas and Max Felker-Kantor, who have …
Recognizing student scholarship at second annual symposium On February 27, 2026, the Department of African American Studies hosted our second annual student symposium in the Memorial Union’s Tripp Commons, drawing scholars, students, and community members together for a full day of exchange on Black studies; the event centered research in the arts, activism, and theory. …
Dr. Sabrina Thomas shares five reading recommendations to best understand the role of Black studies in 2026 “Stony the Road presents a bracing alternative to Trump-era white nationalism. . . . In our current politics we recognize African-American history—the spot under our country’s rug where the terrorism and injustices of white supremacy are habitually swept.” …
by Scott A. Carter UW–Madison lecturer Alexander Shashko on disco, heavy metal and the responsibility of deciding who gets into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Every spring, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announces its nominees, and fans immediately begin debating who deserves induction. But behind the headlines is a large and …
The Department of African American Studies develops a monthly series designed to build our campus community and apply scholarship to daily practice. This spring, we launched In Dialogue, a new monthly series created to bring scholarship out of the classroom and into conversation with our broader campus community. Organized by the department’s Programming Committee, In …
by Hope Kelham A conversation with Sophia Abrams When Sophia Abrams, UW-Madison Class of 2022, joined the production team for Seen & Heard, she was doing the work that makes the content coming to your television possible. This HBO documentary, produced by Issa Rae and directed by Giselle Bailey and Phil Bertelsen, explores the history …
by Hope Kelham Thulani Davis is an acoustic poet, journalist, librettist, historian, and professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she has taught literature and history for over a decade. She is the author of the libretto for the opera Malcolm X, with music by Anthony Davis, and …
by Hope Kelham A conversation with Ziyen Curtis on their research and re-writing the American textbook Ziyen Curtis (she/they) came to the Department of African American Studies in 2024. They started their Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and began taking African American studies courses. By the time they’d taken three courses, a faculty member suggested …
On March 5, 2026, the Department of African American Studies continued our tradition of Night at the Theatre, a gathering that brings students, faculty, staff, and affiliates together for a University Theatre spring production. The tradition, started by Emeritus Professor Sandra Adell, is based on the premise that witnessing art together is its own form …
by Heaven Williams An interview with Jnae Thompson Jnae Thompson is an organizer and grant writer at Freedom Inc., a Black and Southeast Asian, queer, abolitionist, feminist organization based in Madison that provides radical direct services and movement-building support for survivors of gender-based violence. This spring, she stepped back onto the UW-Madison stage as Ainee …