Celebrating Black History Month

A look at the influential people who have visited UWO

Courtesy UWO Archives — A banner announced activities during Black History Week, which has since been expanded to a month-long event.
Courtesy UWO Archives — Dudley Randall, a poet and poetry publisher from Michigan, met with students and staff at the UWO Multicultural Education Center.
Courtesy UWO Archives — Attorney, author and civil rights activist Florynce Kennedy, left, and American journalist and social-political activist Gloria Steinem visited UWO on April 20, 1971.
Courtesy UWO Archives —Activist, politician and minister Jesse Jackson spoke at Oshkosh on March 31, 1988.
Courtesy UWO Archives — Activist and boxer Muhammad Ali visited UW Oshkosh on April 1, 1971.
Courtesy UWO Archives — Muhammad Ali talks to students and fans during his April 1, 1971 visit to UWO.
Courtesy UWO Archives — Barack Obama, the future 44th U.S. President, visited UWO on Feb. 15, 2008.
Courtesy UWO Archives — Actor and Writer Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee on the UWO campus in 1984 for what was then called Black Emphasis Week. Dee was an American actress and social activist known for her pioneering work in African American theater and film and for her outspoken civil rights activism.
Courtesy UWO Archives — Myrlie Evers, left, an American civil rights activist and journalist, worked for over three decades to seek justice for the 1963 murder of her husband Medgar Evers, another civil rights activist. She took part in a press conference at UWO.

Katie Pulvermacher, Editor-in-Chief
February 15, 2023

In the United States, Black History Month is observed in February. UW Oshkosh reflects on the month by providing a month full of events to educate and celebrate.

Prior to the late 1960s, Black visitors on campus were rare. The “Black Thursday” protest of 1968 at Wisconsin State University-Oshkosh sparked a desire for funding to bring in Black speakers to campus. Since 1968, many influential people have stopped on campus to speak to students, staff and faculty on various topics. These academics, artists, political figures, writers and sports figures have given their time to help grow and inform our campus community.

“Black History Month recognition, reflection and celebration is underway at UW Oshkosh,” Chancellor Andrew Leavitt said. “I want to take a moment to share gratitude with students and faculty and staff members for the thought and effort they are pouring into another outstanding schedule of events.”

Booker T. Washington visited UWO on Nov. 10, 1911. The Advance-Titan newspaper issue said Washington spoke on the growing education for Black people and advancements made in Tuskegee, Alabama.

“This was, without doubt, the most interesting talk given before the school for some time,” The A-T wrote in 1911. “We were interested, not only in what he said, but in the man himself.”

A few of many prominent Black speakers at UWO have been:

1972: Poet and publisher Dudley Randall
1981: Future first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress Shirley Chisholm
1983: Poet Nikki Giovanni
1984: Screen stars Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis
1985: Historian, future Chair of U.S. Civil Rights Commission Mary Frances Berry
1986: Chicago-based community activist and college counselor Silas Purnell

“Again, thank you to the students, scholars, alumni and many guests who are sharing their time, expertise and artistry with the university community and providing us so many opportunities to engage in and honor Black History Month,” Leavitt said