Skip to main content

Madison and the Kwanzaa tradition

Noted: Dr. Richard Ralston, professor emeritus in African and Caribbean History in the Department of Afro-American Studies and Integrated Liberal Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, was a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles when Kwanzaa’s origins developed in southern California. Ralston heard about the celebration after the Watts rebellion and understood that something wonderful and positive had come out of the destructive event.