Reorientation Teaching Guide: Season 3 Episode 3
Learning Objectives
Students will understand how the Black Power movement impacted UW–Madison.
Students will understand how Blacks students on campus fought to make this campus a more inclusive space.
Students will understand why protests and activism are necessary to make change and fight injustice.
Podcast Questions
What do the quotes reveal about Black people’s experience at/with UW during this time? Which quotes stand out to you and why?
- “The university kept saying it had almost 1,000 black students, but no one believed that. We determined that many of those students were from Africa.
- “There was a small group of people that welcomed me … but for the most part it was a lonely existence.”
- “There was no Black food, there were no Black clubs, there was no Black community…”
- “The fact that there was an African Studies Department but nothing about ‘African America’ … It was just outrageous that you have this huge university with this teensy-weensy minority that’s not even a drop in the bucket.”
How does the Black Power Movement help contextualize the Black Student Strike?
Why do you think these four demands were crucial for Black students?
- “Autonomous Black Studies department controlled and organized by black students and faculty, which would enable students to receive a B.A. in Black Studies”
- “That at least 500 Black students be admitted to UW for the semester of September 1969”
- That it be established that control of the Black Cultural Center be in the hands of Black students.”
- “That all expelled Oshkosh students who wish to attend UW be admitted immediately.”
How did Black student organizers plan, promote, and carry out the protests and strike? Think about what specific tactics they employed.
Why does Stu Levitan think the Black Student Strike was the “most successful protest?
What are “the proper channels” and why must activists navigate beyond them to achieve change?
Recommended Primary Sources
University Arrest Records 1969–1970
Recommended Secondary Sources
Selected Chapters from Martha Biondi, The Black Revolution on Campus. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012).
Edward Frame, “The Rise and Fall of “Ethnic Centers” at UW–Madison (1968–1974).” Center for Campus History Siftings Blog.
Additional Resources
Sifting and Reckoning Online Exhibit: Black Student Strike
Center for Campus History Teaching Guide: Black Student Strike and Black Power Movement on Campus
Source Citations
University Arrest Records 1969–1970: “Madison Campus Student Suspension & Expulsion Cases — Jan. 1969 to Feb. 1970,” Box 4, “Committee on Student Conduct Appeals & Student Conduct Hearings, 1968–1969” Folder, Chancellor’s Office Records — 1964–1971 — Edwin Young Files, UW–Madison Archives, UW–Madison Libraries.
Thirteen Demands: “Thirteen Needs Explained,” Box 13, Folder 1, Afro-American & Race Relations Files, UW–Madison Archives, UW–Madison Libraries.
Oral History with John Felder: Felder, John. “Oral History Interview with John Felder,” interview by Edward Frame, in Madison, WI. Transcript. UW–Madison Archives, UW–Madison Libraries