Spotlight on Success: Dr. Fabu Carter Receives the Root & Resistance Legacy Award

On Friday, February 27, 2026, Fabu Carter, PhD, was recognized with a Root & Resistance Legacy Award at the 2026 Black History Month Festival. The annual award is presented by a collective of organizations including the Madison Senior Center, Urban Triage, the African Center for Community Development, the African American Opioid Coalition, NewBridge Madison, and the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. "We gave her flowers during Black History Month at the Black History Month Festival because she is a Black person that pours into Black people Black knowledge that is empowering and we must honor this knowledge and make sure it carries on through us to our babies and their babies and their babies. Our babies will know that a woman that looks just like them did it and that they can do it too," said Ericka Booey, Madison Senior Center Older Adult Program and Outreach Coordinator. During the festival a poem that Dr. Carter wrote for Black History Month was recited and Dr. Carter's UW colleagues Annik Dupaty and Tracy Smith accepted the award on her behalf.

For over four decades, Dr. Fabu Phillis Carter has served as a transformative poet, historian, and educator in Madison. As the city’s first African American Poet Laureate, she expanded the reach of the arts into schools and community centers, while her "Hidden Voices" initiative significantly uplifted Black writers across Wisconsin. Beyond her literary contributions and long-standing journalism, Dr. Fabu has been a relentless community advocate. Her career spans directing youth programs at Nehemiah Community Development Corporation to teaching literature internationally. Recently, as Senior Outreach Manager for the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, she has pioneered efforts to include Black families in critical health research, advancing global health equity. A recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction and Outstanding Women of Color awards, which are some of her accolades and now the Root & Resistance Legacy Award, Dr. Fabu’s legacy is defined by her unwavering to Madison’s elders, youth, and future. Abbreviated version from original article by Annik Dupaty.