Wisconsin Black Student Union marches in honor of Black Student Strike anniversary

Fifty years after black UW-Madison students demanded several changes to campus during a strike, the Wisconsin Black Student Union recreated the movement.

In 1969, BSU President Rashid(sic) Wahid Rashad led the strike aimed at calling on the university to make 13 changes to be made to the campus. Some of their most notable demands were the creation of a Black Student Center and an African American Studies Department. The strike lasted for two weeks as over 10,000 students protested in support of their Black peers.

The march tonight (Monday, Feb. 18, 2019) began at the top of Bascom Hill with a powerful speech from Jared Bittle, a member of the WBSU, about the history of the strike.