Celebrating Black History Month as a Reflection of King's Dream

Championing Diversity

for Campus and Beyond

A UW-Madison Diversity Update | Edition 21 | February 1, 2021

"We may have all come on different ships, but we're

in the same boat now."

- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dear Colleagues,

It's exciting to launch each new year with salutes to our American Civil Rights hero, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The national King Holiday requires an annual reexamination of progress toward his Dream and our individual commitments to this work.

Bringing King's Dream into reality requires comprehensive effort in countless varied and small ways everyday in everything we do. As we heard from Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson, the Dream we seek involves an unbounded shift in our knowledge of history, respect of one another, and ultimately, how we apply those changes to everyday life.

UW-Madison celebrated its annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Symposium with a comprehensive and ongoing reading and examination of Isabel Wilkerson's insightful book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Wilkerson also is the author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration and the first woman of African-American heritage to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. There will be a February 9 re-recorded encore of Isabel Wilkerson's MLK Symposium lecture as part of Black History Month. This rebroadcast will be featured on the UW-Madison Student Affairs YouTube channel from 6-9 p.m. Recording of this lecture is strictly prohibited.

The joy on this journey is celebrating every successful step toward the realization of King's Dream, including nearly 60 December 2020 DDEEA graduates. Congratulations to them for persevering despite difficult times and best of luck in the future! Two of our iconic UW-Madison alumni are getting recognition for their incredible legacies. Ada Deer ('57) is a 2020 UW Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Awardee and an inaugural inductee of the National Native American Hall of Fame. A statue of Vel Phillips ('51) Wisconsin's first Black female Secretary of State, could be placed on Capitol grounds as soon as summer 2021.

We'll continue to warm up winter throughout February with the celebration of Black History Month, Music as Medicine: Evolution of Music in the Black Community, one of many ways UW is working on integration of diversity into campus and its history. These cultural observations are led by students for the benefit of all students.

I also want to celebrate the incredible faculty and educators who have been dedicated to working with our First Wave Scholars and nurturing students in the arts. Dasha Kelly Hamilton of Milwaukee was named Wisconsin Poet Laureate for 2021–2022. Married colleagues in the Department of English, UW professors Cherene Sherrard and Amaud Jamaul Johnson, explore Black identity and struggle in a new collection of poems. Their work gives students the gift of studying contemporary topics and art forms created by campus faculty.

Upcoming events focusing on Women's History Month include our annual reception celebrating this year's cohort of Outstanding Women of Color virtually on Wednesday, March 3. On Friday, March 26, we will virtually host the annual Women in Leadership Symposium in partnership with the National Diversity Council.

My goal for 2021 is to strengthen our commitment to equality and justice through our work in diversity, equity and inclusion. I truly value your partnership in this commitment.

In Community,

Cheryl B. Gittens, Ed.D.

Interim Deputy Vice Chancellor for Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer

Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Madison's Proud Role in King's Dream

Reflections by Cheryl B. Gitttens, Ed.D.

More than 50 years after one of the nation’s most respected leaders of the Civil Rights Movement gave his life to stand up for justice, equality and equal rights in America, we pause again to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his timeless Dream. It is a Dream defining our best America and the hope of all who’ve suffered denied freedoms.

In 2020, we endured an uncharacteristically contagious coronavirus, a prolific political pretension, and loss of laughter, learning and life-affirming touch. Time also turned a page as we lost iconic civil rights leaders of King’s generation: John Lewis and Elijah Cummings, the Reverends C.T. Vivian, Lucille Bridges, Airickca Gordon-Taylor and Joseph Lowery. The Dream must pass into new hands.

Madison can be proud of its role in carrying the baton of civil rights and the Dream. Busloads of campus students traveled to marches and sit-ins in other cities and the South, raising our awareness and understanding of the national Civil Rights Movement. Thousands spontaneously gathered on Bascom Hill when King was assassinated in 1968, left with a baton and recommitted to the Dream. It was a generation that recognized the expansive possibilities of equality for all races, genders, identities, religions and abilities. Madisonians grasped the inherently broad nature of equal rights, fortifying and shifting the hue of the movement’s frontline with a beautiful array of dream keepers.

There is absolutely no way someone won’t be missed in listing local justice and diversity leaders, but a few names among our own historic dream keepers include: Vel Phillips, Ruth Doyle, Rev. James Wright, Velma Bell Hamilton, Betty Franklin Hammonds, Nellie McKay, Jeff Erlanger, LaMarr Billups, Paul Kusuda, Jackie Dewalt, Harry Whitehorse, Milele Chikasa Anana, Shirley Abrahamson, John Odom, and Wade Fetzer.

It’s time to better document the path of those who’ve been guiding the Dream for decades as the baton passes to a new generation. The past 50 years, including recent events of hate and injustice, have shown us the roots of inequity are not only deeply buried in our culture, but woven into our social and institutional genetics. Our approach to civil rights and America’s healing requires an equally pervasive commitment by individuals and organizations working in the countless ways and levels true social change requires. In other words, we are all the keepers of Dr. King’s Dream.

Thankfully, we are a people of hope and resilience committed to continuing the pursuit of equity, inclusion, and justice. Led by lessons learned and renewed energy, we can shoulder the Dream and march on.

Campus News and Announcements

OWOC March Reception

The thirteenth cohort of Outstanding Women of Color awardees will be honored at a virtual reception on Wednesday, March 3 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The virtual reception to celebrate this year’s honorees is open to the campus and community.