Justified Anger’s Black History for a New Day course is the embodiment of the Wisconsin Idea by creating a true community-academic partnership that enriches the whole community. As a result of this partnership, a new paper titled “A Location of Possibility: Teaching Black History to White Folks at a Black-Led Church” was published in the leading scholarly journal in American history, The Journal of American History. Published four times a year with a competitive 9% acceptance rate by the Organization of American Historians , the paper was submitted to the Teaching American History in Alternative Spaces of the Textbooks and Teaching section. The paper details the success of the course as rooted in the faculty recognizing the expertise of a Black-led organization working in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space for thirty years. In an innovative approach, community knowledge and lived experience were viewed as equal with academic knowledge.

The Black History for a New Day course is an ambitious endeavor that is unlike other courses in the country in its unique community engagement and academic collaboration. The course was an early development as a result of the Justified Anger initiative, aimed at non-Black participants, to educate about Black history in the context of US history and encourage participants to consider the multifaceted roles of racism, power, freedom struggles, and alliances across the broad sweep of North American history. It began as a collaborative effort between Dr. Alex Gee, the University of Wisconsin historian Stephen Kantrowitz, and a group of local antiracist activists. The course soon grew to add the University of Wisconsin historians and scholars of African American studies including Christy Clark-Pujara, Neil Kodesh, and Alexander Shashko.

“Justified Anger has had a profound impact on my personal and professional life. It has allowed me to fully embrace becoming a public historian and has led to friendships and alliances I could have never imagined. I am so grateful to be a part of such a transformative community initiative. ”- Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara

“This course is so important because if we aren’t willing to look back and learn from our history, then we won’t be able to move forward. We need white allies to move beyond merely helping our black kids – we need allies who will help teach their own kids as well so that one day they will be able to work together with our kids in righting the wrongs of history.” – Dr. Alex Gee

Since 2016 nearly 5000 participants have completed the course and have been moved to action. Participants hail from 10 different US states and have represented more than 50 organizations including municipalities, school districts, police departments, financial institutions, nonprofits, and government agencies.

The next cohort will begin on September 11, 2023. For more information about how to take the course as an individual or as part of an organization, visit nehemiah.org/our-work/justified-anger/.

This article was written and contributed by Dr. Karen Reece, Dr. Alex Gee, Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara, Dr. Stephen Kantrowitz, and Eli Steenlage.