UWM Celebrates 50 years of Black Studies

When Evelyn Higginbotham came to UWM in the fall of 1965, there were no black history courses, and there was no use of the word diaspora. The closest course to black history in her first years was a course on the Civil War taught by Professor Nathan Miller. He had a major impact on her life and career as a historian.

“It is now 50 years later; we can move back and today gather here to celebrate this crowning achievement, the institutionalization and incorporation of black studies in the academy,” said Higginbotham.

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Higginbotham is the chair of the History Department at Harvard University and its former chair of African American Studies. She is a UWM alumna who attended campus while student activists worked to discover a Black Studies program here at UWM.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of African and African Diaspora Studies celebrated the mark of its 50th anniversary in the UWM Union- Wisconsin Room on the night of April 25.  Higginbotham gave a presentation at the event.

At the end, there was a discussion with panelists such as Dan Burrell, one the student demonstrators during the inception of the department and its first chair; Clayborn Benson, a UWM alum and director of the Wisconsin Black Historical Society; and Charmane Perry, a graduate of the department’s PhD program about the turbulent days of the programs being established and how Black Studies programs continue to press for transformation of campuses and communities.

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UWM is one of many campuses celebrating this milestone anniversary. The department of Africa and African American Studies at Harvard University is also hosting its own celebration this fall.

According to the flyer, 50 years ago, students in Wisconsin and across the country struggled to create a place for Black Studies in the university. The center for Afro-American culture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was approved in 1968 and opened in 1969, evolving over time into a department that today offers undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Higginbotham came to UWM in 1964 and graduated in 1969. The black student movement persuaded UWM to hire James Turner, who was a doctoral student at Northwestern University at the time to teach the first black studies class. In the spring of 1969, he taught at UWM. She witnessed first-hand the impact of the student efforts at UWM on her own professional life and academic journey.

Higginbotham and other black students were part of a national transformative movement and participate in the politically charged campus revolts at the time. They rejected the idea that only white people represented the American experience. They were the voice for African-Americans.

“As students we were making history, and we knew it,” said Higginbotham.

Anika Wilson, Associate Professor and Chair of the African and African Diaspora at UWM, takes it back to how the department evolved. In 1971, The Center of Afro-American Studies became a department in the College of Letters and Science. In 1978, the Board of Regents approved the B.A. in Afro-American Studies at UWM. Before that, courses offered by the Department of Afro-American Studies counted towards the B.A. degree, but no degree of its own was offered. In 1980, the department implemented a bachelor’s degree program.

In 1986, it began offering a minor in Afro-American Studies. As you will see, the name is going to keep evolving and, in 1994, the department was renamed to the department of Africology. Leaving the 20^thcentury, in 2008, the department’s PhD program was approved. The first doctoral student of UWM’s Africology department, Charmane Perry, who is currently a visiting assistant professor of African American and Ethnic History in the department of history at Beloit College, was one of the panelists at the event as well.

“Not being from Milwaukee was somewhat hard to adjust, and I didn’t understand what I was looking at, but I think it was some of those things in terms of statistics and the quality of life for black people in Milwaukee. I think that underscores the importance of black studies because especially if you think about the original goals of black studies, right, in terms of this question of ‘relevance’ again and in terms of the community, it is needed here. You see it just a few blocks away. The concentration of black people and poverty,” Perry said.

In 2018, the department changed its name again but this time to the department of African and African Diasporas Studies. This name will continue to signify global focus but reflect the chain of norms and attitudes. The current department examines issues facing people of African decent from all over the world, including Sub Sahara Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and the United Sates.

Use of the word “Relevant”

In the 1960s, Higginbotham and other black students were found using the word “relevant” and “relevance” in their demands for academic training that would serve them as individuals and also prepare them to serve the communities. Higginbotham loves to say:

“If you’re not part of the solution, your part of the problem,” said Higginbotham. 

As activists, they strongly believed that scholarly study offered solutions. They were strong believers of education but it had to be the right education meaning “relevant” education.