Wisconsin has a dynamic history of minorities that is still being affected today. I will specifically be talking about the American Indian, female, and African American minorities, a history of their impact in this state, developments in our education systems as a result, ongoing discrimination issues, and what I will do as an educator to combat these prejudices.
It is estimated that Wisconsin has been inhabited since 10,000 years ago. Before European influence, American Indians utilized hunting, farming, gathering, and trade as a way of living, passed on through generations of tradition. The initial integration of non-indigenous culture began in 1634 with the fur trade. Up until the late 1700’s the Wisconsin region remained occupied by both English and French primarily due to the economic benefits of the trade. After the establishment of the American government, Wisconsin began seeing an uptick in settlers due to the westward expansion. In the 1800’s the Wisconsin tribes experienced a significant loss of land to the American government. The Treaty of Prairie du Chien was established in 1825 to create peace between the tribes and the American settlers and created boundaries. Between the late 1800s and the early 1900’s the American government focused on assimilating the American Indian tribes to the ways of the American government and oppressing the native culture and traditions of the tribes by creating boarding schools and establishing the Dawes Act of 1887 that established individual ownership of land, advantageously leaving the leftover land to the American government. The Indian Reservation Act of 1932 reversed the Dawes Act, creating a reservation system for American Indians, but was later rejected with the House Concurrent Resolution 108 in 1953, ending the recognition of over 50 tribal governments. Wisconsin established rights to casino gambling to Wisconsin tribes in 1987, creating economic benefits to the tribes which is still in effect today.
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Specifically with our education system, the American Indian tribes influenced the Wisconsin Act 31, created in 1989 to require that students are given accurate information about the history and culture of American Indians. The DPI American Indian Studies Program was also established within the Wisconsin Department of Public Instructions to provide assistance and training to school districts as well as facilitate other tribal departments. As well as establishing that American Indian history and culture are taught in our school systems, The American Indian Studies Program is also responsible for the American Indian students currently being taught in our school systems.
The history of women in Wisconsin also began 10,000 years ago as some of the American Indians native to this region were women. Women within the tribes were instrumental in the harvesting and gathering of food for their families. With the fur trade beginning in the 1600s, European traders typically took Indian women as wives, as opposed to European women, as this was beneficial for the trader's livelihood. American Indian women were helpful liaisons between the traders and the Indian tribes as well as extremely knowledgeable about living off of the land. It wasn’t until the westward settlement that Wisconsin began to see more nonnative women. With the westward movement, there was an emigration of Indian tribes from the Eastern Coast to the Wisconsin region. Notably, Wisconsin’s first public school teacher was an American Indian woman who settled in the area from New York. When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, there was a discussion on giving women the right to their property as well as their right to vote, but it did not make it to the final constitution. Women played an active role in the abolition movement, creating their reform organizations. They participated in the underground railroad system, hiding slaves in their homes. Women were also the medical, spiritual, and economic backbone of the soldiers fighting in the Civil War, providing financial support as well as providing medical aid in the hospitals. Following the Civil War, industrialization caused women to seek jobs in the workforce. The Wisconsin State Federation of Labor welcomed women and included them in part of their platform. The movement for women’s suffrage in Wisconsin was well-organized, becoming the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment of 1920, allowing women the right to vote. A year later, Wisconsin passed the first equal rights bill, that gave women equal rights as men. Women also contributed to both world wars, being the main day-to-day providers for their families while most men were off at war. The Wisconsin Commission on the Status of Women was created in 1964 to advise the governor on policies that affected women but was later dismantled in 1979. The Wisconsin Women’s Network was created in its wake and is currently still in existence.
The History of African Americans in Wisconsin dates back to the 1700’s beginning with the fur trade. Some, but not all African Americans were slaves to the traders. Some were free men and fur traders themselves. With the westward expansion, slaves were brought in with the white settlers. In the early 1800’s the slaves that did arrive from other regions were typically freed as Wisconsin was considered free soil. As well as women, African Americans also received consideration when the original constitution for Wisconsin was created. African American (men) right to vote was approved in the second referendum of 1849. Unfortunately, election officials continued to prohibit men of color from voting in the state until 1866, when a case was brought to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by a member of the black community. The Court established that African American men were allowed to vote, and have been since 1849. During the Civil War, African Americans were not permitted to serve as soldiers until 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation. After 1863, hundreds of African Americans from Wisconsin enlisted. In the early 1900’s the structure of Wisconsin agricultural and manufacturing jobs resulted in limited need for hired labor. Consequently, most African Americans found other states to have better employment opportunities. This resulted in a stunted population growth for African Americans in Wisconsin. It was not until the mid-1900’s that the African American population saw a significant increase, due to the increase in jobs in the region.
In the Wisconsin school system, the Milwaukee Urban League fought for the right to have black teachers in school beginning in 1930 which was further helped by the Brown vs. Board of Education decision of 1954. Segregation of schools continued, notably in the Milwaukee area. As a result, the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) was organized in 1963. In 1976 it was finally determined that schools were still being segregated, and it took an additional three years for them to create a plan to fix the issue. While progress was made to end segregation since the 2000’s there has been a trend of resegregation in Milwaukee public school systems. Recently it was found that 73.5% of black students in the metro area attend schools consisting of 90% more non-white students.
Wisconsin enacted various measures to combat the discrimination of American Indians, women, African Americans, as well as other minorities in our school systems. In 1848, the creation of the Wisconsin Constitution established tuition-free schools open to all races and religions. In 1949 the Wisconsin pupil nondiscrimination law made separate schools and exclusion based on race and religion illegal. A series of federal laws, including the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination of race as well as Title IX of 1972 prohibiting the discrimination of sex, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibiting the discrimination of people with disabilities, led to a revision of the Wisconsin pupil nondiscrimination law in 1975 to include these additional groups. In 1983, there were additional provisions to include pregnant women and mothers in the school system. In 2006, single-sex classes and schools were formally prohibited. Today’s practice of pupil nondiscrimination requires school districts to designate an employee to handle and resolve discrimination complaints.
It is undisputed that discrimination of minorities continues to exist, both intentionally and implicitly. We are still dealing with segregation issues, as well as school policies that disproportionately affect people of different genders, races, beliefs, and income levels. School districts like Superior and Kenosha made changes to their dress codes within the last couple of years because they were not gender-neutral. Researchers have shown discrimination to also have less obvious impacts on people, specifically with stress and overall health.
As a future art teacher, I will strive to find creative ways to be culturally responsive. Specifically, I would like to incorporate lessons that include both present and past minority artists, why these artists are or were relevant, as well as having students create historically and culturally appropriate art forms. I intend to structure activities that aim to give the students context for how these pieces originated as well as a general respect for them.
Through my research of the American Indian, women, and African American history and influence on past and current Wisconsin culture, as well as its specific implication in our school system, I felt an overarching optimism in the continuing movement towards equal suffrage as well as a pride in what has been accomplished so far. Unfortunately, we are very far from being equal and I also had feelings of disappointment in where we are at today. Seeing articles posted in the last one or two years dealing with gender discrimination and racial segregation in our schools is very disheartening. I hope that being armed with this knowledge will help me better structure my teaching as a future educator.
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