Community members came out to the Overture Center on Sunday, Nov. 1, to celebrate the Umoja Exhibit of Covers and to celebrate 25 years of Umoja Magazine bringing great news to the Madison community.
Umoja Magazine is famous for its rich cover art which showcases original artwork by local and national black artists. For this exhibit, UMOJA has assembled some of the magazine’s stunning covers in celebration of its 25th anniversary. UMOJA is a monthly journal of positive, encouraging news about African American people and job opportunities in Madison.
Umoja Magazine was started by Milele Chikasa Anana who has also has been the city of Madison’s Affirmative Action officer, interim director of the Madison Equal Opportunities Commission, and the first African-American to serve on a Wisconsin school board.
Milele has received numerous honors from local social justice and civic organizations during her career in Madison that are too numerous to mention.
In Swahili, Umoja means unity. Umoja Magazine delivers positive news by and about Madison’s black community – including individual achievements, role models, contributions, community events, and history. Every month, creative, original art primarily by black artists appears on each cover.
Milele started UMOJA 25 years ago because she believed the mainstream media failed to capture all of the great stories that were going on in the African American community and she wanted to provide a balance to all of the negative news about African Americans in the media. What started out as a small newsletter has blossomed into the beautiful publication it is today.
