About a year ago, Reverend Dr. Alexander Gee Jr. (’85) was having a conversation with Christy Clark-Pujara, chair of the Department of African American Studies and a professor of history. Gee, a pastor and career community activist who holds a bachelor’s degree in African American Studies and an honorary doctorate degree from UW–Madison, looked her in the eye. Then he paused and said, “You know what one of my dreams is? To be a part of my alma mater’s department. I would love one day to be able to lecture.”
Gee’s dream is no longer deferred. Beginning in early March, he’ll begin teaching his first-ever course as an adjunct professor with the Department of African American Studies: Rebuilding Black Societies Through Social, Economic and Cultural Innovation.
It’s a topic he has deep and meaningful personal experience with. Gee, who graduated from the department in 1985, has worked to construct and support Black societies several times in the city of Madison. He founded the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development in 1992, a Black-focused social service and leadership development entity, and The Center for Black Excellence and Culture, a new enterprise scheduled to open later this year on Madison’s South Side. Those experiences will fuel his class curriculum.
“I believe that what I’m able to show, after 40 years of experience, is to let people know that more than ever we need people with the brain power, the fire in their hearts and the love for the community,” says Gee. “Strong Black cultural identity can do things to rebuild our communities, and we don’t have to sit on the side of the road waiting for others to do it. I want to help people harness the power of their stories and their own experiences as a window into the world, as they find a place where they might have impact.”
Gee plans to use his lectures to help his students connect their own experiences to the stories of historical figures who have made a difference, like he did when he was a student here. But his class will also feature plenty of practical applications, like learning how to file a 501(c)(3), create a business plan and how to take an idea and make it into a reality — the process of creating and sustaining a nonprofit organization.
“I’m asking them to assess their experiences, good and bad,” Gee explains. “What has empowered them to want to do what they’re doing? Changing Black societies is not just putting our best foot forward. It’s also processing our pain and allowing that to fuel us. Because I don’t want people to think that just because you have a degree from a prestigious university that you can change Black society; the people who you’re wanting to touch need to have reason to believe in you and your relevance.”
Teaching in the classroom will be something of a switch for Gee, who is accustomed to serving as a mentor in very different types of venues. He admits it’ll be an unusual challenge.
“It feels different than being a keynote speaker or part of a workshop address or participating as a panelist,” Gee says. “I’m a public speaker at some pulpit somewhere, almost 50 weeks a year, yet sitting with undergraduate students and talking about my experiences and walking through this process is a bit daunting.”
But more than anything else, the idea of teaching at UW–Madison feels like coming full circle, coming home. Gee’s mother, Verline Gee-Fleming, was one the first students to enroll in what was then known as the Black Studies Department in 1970 (after a hiatus, she graduated in 1985). Gee’s sister, Lilada Gee, is also a department alumna. Both became social workers, rebuilding Black societies in their own way. Now Alex Gee gets his chance to add to the legacy.
“I feel a real sense of connection to this department,” he says. “I want the rest of the campus to understand that this department is a gem, not just on the campus, but across the nation.”
Registration remains open for Gee’s eight-week course, which begins on March 7.