Sen. Dora Drake speaks at the 2025 Black History Month kickoff. Screenshot via WisEye.
The Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus kicked off its celebration of Black History Month at the Capitol Tuesday by recognizing the work that many have done to advance Black Wisconsinites and encouraging community advocacy.
Lawmakers noted that the celebration comes at a moment when diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are being targeted by the federal government and their fellow state lawmakers.
Rep. Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee) said that in 2025 it is “clear that being Black is being attacked. They started with being woke and went to CRT (critical race theory) and went to DEI, but at the end of the day it’s an attack on being Black.”
President Donald Trump issued a proclamation declaring February Black History Month, but he also signed an executive order last month to end DEI efforts — a move that led the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs to remove webpages — and the U.S. Defense Department declared “identity months dead.” Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin have also been taking actions to identify and attempt to limit or eliminate DEI initiatives.
Haywood encouraged people to “step up” and become involved in the efforts to move the state forward. The caucus announced that it would have its annual “Black Advocacy Day,” which is a time for community members to meet with Wisconsin lawmakers and learn about advocating for issues important to them, on Feb. 27.
“Right now is not the time to sit on the sidelines and watch what’s happening,” Haywood said. “It is time to get in the game. … As bold and as aggressive and blunt as they are about the attacks, we gotta be as bold and aggressive about protecting the past and the future so that we can move forward.”
Part of the caucus’ recognition of the month includes a resolution to officially proclaim February Black History Month. The resolution acknowledges that enslaved Africans were first brought to Virginia over 400 years ago and acknowledges the history of Black History Month, which has its roots in Carter G. Woodson’s “Negro History Week” founded in 1926.
“Both enslaved and free people of African descent have participated in every aspect of America’s effort to secure, protect, and advance the cause of freedom and civil rights, and have stories that are an inspiration to all citizens, that reflect the triumph of the human spirit, and that offer the hopes of everyday people to rise above both prejudice and circumstance and to build lives of dignity,” the resolution draft states.
The resolution recognizes 14 Black Americans, including several Wisconsinites. They include Paul Higginbotham, the first African-American judge to serve on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals; Marcia Anderson, a retired senior officer of the United States Army Reserve from Beloit, Wisconsin, who was the first Black woman to become a major general; Shakita LaGrant-McClain, the executive director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, and Samuel Coleman, the assistant superintendent of instruction for the Oshkosh Area School District.
Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) said the month is “a time where we are celebrating the advancements, the struggles and the victories that African Americans have achieved, not just in Wisconsin, but nationwide.”
Even as lawmakers celebrate the accomplishments of Black Americans across history, they emphasized that more work has to be done.
“We have a list of programs that focus on housing, reentry criminal justice initiatives, health and so much more, but what’s very important … is that we are all called — whether we are fighting for justice, standing on the value that we stand on, investing and caring for our children and their education, or making sure that workers have rights and are paid a fair wage,” Drake said. “The time is now to do the job, and the time is now for us to work collectively and to push for justice.”
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