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Sifting and Reckoning: The UW History Exhibit at the Chazen Art Museum

10/14/2022 12:58:56 PM

Oct14

On October 2, some 30 TBE Sisterhood and Racial Justice Action Team members viewed the UW Public History Project’s exhibit “Sifting and Reckoning,” showing at the Chazen Museum of Art on campus through December 23. The exhibit covers 150 years of UW–Madison history, “sifting through histories of discrimination and resistance on campus and reckoning with that history in order to move toward a better future,” according to the exhibit’s curators. 

The project is a multiyear effort to uncover and give voice to those who were often excluded at UW–Madison. In response to the increased awareness of the Ku Klux Klan’s presence on campus in the 1920s, Chancellor Rebecca Blank created the project to better understand the university’s past. The exhibition uses archival materials, objects, and oral histories to bring to light stories of struggle, perseverance, and resistance on campus.

As participants in the TBE event took self-guided tours, we shared our thoughts and recollections, remembering things we observed or experienced personally at UW–Madison or at other colleges. The exhibit focuses on several themes to help us understand the university’s history, including the many ways racism and exclusion permeated campus life, and how the community responded, organized, and resisted. Themes such as student organizations, housing, academic life, and protest provided insight into the various experiences of marginalized students as they navigated the whole of student life. Objects and pictures bring these themes to life: the Pipe of Peace, a ceremonial object used by white students in a popular mock Native ceremony; protest flyers created by students fighting against racism; buttons and athletic memorabilia; and yearbooks and photographs illustrating the culture of exclusion on campus. 

After viewing the exhibit, the TBE group met at the Memorial Union to process what we had seen. Reactions ranged from sadness to shock at the events that had taken place at UW–Madison. One participant’s dormitory roommate told her she really did think that Jews had actual horns. There were stories of segregated dorms, parents who could not get hired as professors because they were Jewish, and more. Participants hoped that the university would take steps after this exhibit to be more proactive about ensuring that all felt a true sense of belonging at UW–Madison.

The project also includes a digital exhibition website, a lecture series, and curricular materials. The exhibit was curated by Kacie Lucchini Butcher, the director of the Public History Project; Taylor Bailey, assistant director; Adriana Arthur, graduate student researcher and curatorial assistant; the Public History Project Steering Committee; and collaborative partnerships with student groups, community partners, and campus stakeholders.

Like other higher-education institutions, UW–Madison is recognizing the importance of examining its history. The TBE event provided a unique opportunity for us to reflect on our past and work toward creating a more equitable future.

April 26, 2024 18 Nisan 5784