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[lively string and flute music]
- Narrator: Electa Quinney was heartbroken
to leave her home.
She was barely ten years old,
and she and five other Mohican girls
were going far away to school.
It would be a long time
before they would see their families again.
But they knew that education
was their best chance at surviving.
To understand why,
we have to go back to the years before Electa was born.
[dramatic music]
Electa and her family were Mohicans.
The Mohicans lived in a thriving community
in the state now known as New York.
But by the 1700s,
more and more European invaders were coming to America
to seize land and resources.
Colonization, war, and European diseases
decimated the Mohican populations and homelands.
In order to survive, the Mohicans were forced to move.
In the 1730s,
they decided to live alongside some English colonists
and form the town that became Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
There, the Stockbridge Mohicans
raised families, farmed and hunted,
and participated in town life.
When the Revolutionary War broke out,
the Stockbridge Mohicans fought alongside the colonists
against the British.
The American colonists promised to let them keep their lands
in return for this service.
But after the war, they broke this promise
and forced the Stockbridge Mohicans
off their land and out of their homes.
Again.
Another tribe, the Oneida,
offered the Stockbridge Mohicans a place to live
in New York State.
So, they moved there and started rebuilding their community.
They called their new home New Stockbridge.
In 1797, several Stockbridge Mohican families
sent their daughters to live and study with non-Native families.
Over several years,
the girls learned reading, writing, and arithmetic,
as well as crafts like knitting
and how to make cheese and butter.
Their parents explained
that a combination of Native teachings
with a non-Native education
would help the community understand
and negotiate with American colonists.
Doing this would be key to their survival.
Back in New Stockbridge,
the girls then shared what they'd learned.
One of them, Mary Peters Doxtator,
opened a school for Stockbridge Mohican girls.
They produced cloth that they could sell.
The students would then share their profits
to help care for the whole community,
an important Mohican value.
Stockbridge Mohicans invested years building New Stockbridge.
Sending Electa and the other girls away to school
was part of their work to keep this as their home.
But the New York state government and businesses
were working hard to remove all Native people from the state.
Reluctantly, the Stockbridge Mohicans
were forced to make their most devastating move yet--
into the unknown.
In the early 1820s,
the Stockbridge Mohicans began their journey
to the area that is now Wisconsin,
where they signed a treaty
with the Ho-Chunk and Menominee for some land.
They could only bring their most important possessions,
and they had no way of knowing what life would be like
so far from their homelands.
But the love of their people was so strong
that they committed to doing what was necessary
to ensure a better life
for future generations of the Mohican Nation.
Electa Quinney was one of the people
who helped carry Mohican traditions to Wisconsin
from their homelands in the east.
When she arrived in Statesburg, now Kaukauna, in 1828,
the Stockbridge Mohican community was busy rebuilding.
That summer, Electa started teaching in Statesburg.
That made her, a Native woman, the first known person
to teach public school in the area that became Wisconsin.
Yes, the first!
She taught reading, spelling, math, and public speaking
to Native and non-Native students alike.
Having a Native teacher at a school open to all students
was an important sign
of the Stockbridge Mohicans' generosity at work.
This was a big responsibility for Electa,
but she came from a long line
of tribal leaders, historians, diplomats, and educators.
Electa lived out her life as a cherished Mohican elder
on a farm in the community.
When she died around 1885, she could rest
knowing she had done her part to uplift her nation
in the face of great obstacles.
Today, the Mohicans in Wisconsin call themselves
the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans,
and their reservation is in Shawano County.
They continue to be inspired by Electa Quinney.
Electa lifted up Native and non-Native people.
She taught not only school lessons,
but demonstrated how to build a better society.
Her generosity is a defining Mohican value,
one that the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans
are still known for today.
- Bill Miller: ? She came here to teach us ?
? Her spirit still reaches ?
? Electa, you taught us so well ?
? Way ah ay ah way ah ay oh ?
? She came here to teach us ?
? Her spirit still reaches ?
? Electa, you taught us so well ?
? Way ah ay ah way ah ay oh ?
[lively string music]
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
- Walter Bresette: I wanna begin at the beginning,
and I always draw a map of Wisconsin,
and I keep getting worse each time that I do draw it.
Here's Duluth, here's La Crosse.
I'm from this little community up here,
which is the Red Cliff Reservation.
So I'm a Lake Superior Chippewa.
My village has a
government-to-government relationship
with the United States called sovereignty.
Laws, et cetera, need to take into account
this concept of sovereignty.
And the treaties of 1837 and 1842
were basically deeds to real estate transactions.
You know, I'm sure there was something a little bit more
than that going on.
We won't debate that here.
When that land was sold to the United States,
there were easements on it.
The easement was that we would always have access
to hunting, fishing, and gathering of the resources
of this land.
So we sold the surface and the United States said, "Great."
Policies change, some years they like Indians,
some years they ignore them,
some years they try and get rid of 'em.
So back in 1974, here on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation,
there was a lake, but these young brothers
said that perhaps that the state really never had authority
to impose state game law against the Chippewa.
They would remember the old grandpa stories.
"Grandpa told me that his grandpa told him,
"he was there when they signed those treaties.
And the treaties are our license."
So what they did was not unlike what Ghandi did,
was not unlike what Rosa Parks did,
was not unlike what anyone else did
when they kind of knew in their heart
that this law was not right.
They went across the imaginary line here and began spearfishing
and, of course, they were arrested,
cited for violating state game laws.
Well, to make that story shorter, in 1983,
a three-judge panel in Chicago said Grandpa was right,
that these young Tribble brothers
had indeed stumbled onto lost rights.
They said, "We think that the state has been given
"no constitutional authority for them to impose
"against the Chippewa, who are the legal inheritors
of these easements."
However, when the court ruled, they said,
"You know, it's a long time since 1837 and 1842,
"so what we want you people to do,
to go argue the scope of these rights."
There is nothing in the treaties
which say we must use the technology
that existed when the treaties were signed.
So the Chippewa can do anything in terms of methods
that are available that doesn't threaten the resource.
What was concluded was that wherever
any of these resources are harvested by the general public,
the Chippewa could harvest their portion
of these resources.
Wherever anybody else can do it, we can do it.
And the tribal government understood for the first time
that geez, this is a right.
Lost rights.
Rights that were never given up, were never sold,
were never taken away,
but were just usurped by might by the state of Wisconsin.
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
[lively string music]
[guitar strums]
- Mike Bloomfield: This is a cherry Les Paul Sunburst guitar.
It's one of the greatest rock and roll guitars ever made.
- Rick Derringer: I just wonder if Les ever had any idea
the kind of noise we'd all be makin' with these things.
His involvement in recording and in guitar recording,
he's probably the number one man.
[slide guitar]
- Les Paul: To begin at the beginning,
I was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
And about the age of seven, something happened to me.
And I became interested in music and electronics.
I noticed this one fellow
was winding this wire around this toilet roll,
and I says, "Harry, what in the world are you doin'?"
He says, "I'm making a crystal set.
That's the newest thing, you know."
You can hear radio without no batteries, no nothing.
That led me into electronics very heavily.
So what I did is I stole my mother and father's radio,
and I took 'em using this PA system.
To then, I jabbed the pickup needle
into the top of the guitar and turned it on,
started playin' a record and I played my guitar.
[electric guitar strum]
I put that on a hollow-bodied guitar.
An unwanted condition developed.
So you've got a string doin' this
and a pickup going up and down on the top of the guitar.
I'm saying, "Hey, only one thing should move, just the string."
No matter what I played from the early '30s on,
I was totally convinced I had to pick something
close to a solid-body instrument.
? Somewhere there's music ?
? How faint the tune ?
? Somewhere there's heaven ?
? How high the moon ?
? There is no moon above ?
? When love is far away too ?
I went to the Gibson people
and it took me about seven, eight years
to finally convince 'em that this is the way to go.
And I said, "Okay," and we signed.
He says, "With one stipulation.
"We won't use the name Gibson.
What do you suggest?"
And I said, "Well, why don't you call it the Les Paul guitar?"
[electric guitar riffs]
- Rick: Les Paul came into the picture.
Up until he really started experimenting
with recording techniques, the only way you could record
was with several mics, live, on two tracks of tape.
And the entire session had to be balanced accordingly.
If horns were used and they were louder than the bass player,
well, that meant you put the horns farther away from the mic
than the bass player.
And after the record was done, there was nothing to alter it.
[guitar strums]
- Les: Bing Crosby asked me one day
if I'd record a song with him.
Bing says, "Sounds fine to me."
And he says, "Les, what do you think?"
And I says, "I don't like it."
Bing says, "What's wrong with that record?"
And I says, "Aw, it's technical, Bing."
I says, "There's a lot of things that I desire
that are not there."
[electric organ plays]
Then the idea hit me, and I says, "I know where it's at.
"It's to stack up this machine with all eight tracks.
I can record each part individually."
Let's see, I've got my wife, Mary.
- Mary Ford: Hi, why don't you grab a guitar
and show the people what you can do?
- Les: All right, I got a lot of ideas.
Here we go. [guitar strums]
Now, that's one guitar.
Now, if you want two, I just throw a switch.
[switch clicks] [guitar doubles]
- Mary: How 'bout three? - Les: Easy.
[switch clicks] [three guitar sounds play]
Now, if you want four, switch.
[switch clicks] [guitars play]
- Mary: How 'bout five? - Les: It's a cinch.
[switch clicks] [guitars play]
Now, if you want six, here's a half a dozen, an easy one.
[switch clicks]
- Rick: He was really an innovator
in modern recording techniques.
It's almost like he was the person
who invented the sound of today's pop records.
- Mike: This is it, this is the sound.
[electric guitar plays]
? ?
[lively string music]
[musical fanfare]
- Narrator: Welcome back to the 1890 Dairy Bowl,
presented by the Wisconsin consumers.
We're here in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin.
The future of the world's dairy industry is on the line.
We're gearing up to watch the final minutes
of this epic battle between the Wisconsin Honest Farmers
and the Cheaters.
Let's take a moment to look at the action
from the game so far.
In the first two quarters, Wisconsin Honest Dairy Farmers
were controlling the field, but they've been losing ground
ever since the game-changing play in the third quarter
when they were stuffed at the production line.
That really changed this game's momentum.
The Cheaters had been watering down their milk
and selling it like the real thing!
[crowd gasps] Real sneaky play.
The problem is the refs, or anyone for that matter,
just can't see the foul.
Thin milk and the good stuff look the same
until it's too late and it turns into a dairy disaster.
Things need to turn around real quick for the Honest Farmers.
If they can't find a way to catch the Cheaters,
the dairy industry may never be the same.
[whistle blowing]
Wisconsin Honest Farmers have called a time out.
Wait, will you look at that!
They're bringing out a new player,
a true agricultural chemist from the University of Wisconsin,
Stephen Babcock!
The original Dairy Dominator.
Not one for the spotlight, but don't let that fool you.
He has the skills to turn this whole game around.
This is a wise move by the dean, a legend in his own right.
Let's see what Babcock's first play will be.
He's got the line in an "I" formation.
Babcock appears to be looking for a method
to separate the fat from the whey
so people can know which is the better milk.
This play would be huge for the Honest Farmers,
but seems like a Hail Mary.
How will he do it?
[flask bubbling] Babcock takes a flask of milk
from sample A and readies his machine.
[crowd cheering] There's Sylvia,
ready for the assist. [cow mooing]
What a dependable Jersey.
And it's off!
Babcock sets the play in motion
Look at it spin!
Those puffy fat molecules are in for a heck of a ride.
There they go, separating right out of the liquid of the milk.
[crowd cheering]
Spinning the milk reveals the cream.
Farmers can now tell the amount of butter fat in the milk.
There's no more hiding the thin milk now.
1st and 10, Wisconsin! [marching band fanfare]
But the game's not over yet.
There's still a little time left on the clock,
and Babcock needs to move his team quick.
He has to make that same play for every type of dairy cow
to clinch this game.
He better hurry.
The longer he waits, the worse it is getting out there
for the Honest Farmers.
Fans are losing faith in dairy as we speak.
The clock is ticking.
Uh-oh, looks like the dean
is calling for a hurry-up offense.
Babcock's not going to like that.
The dean is pushing Babcock
to get his test out onto the field.
That's a risky move.
If Babcock's test isn't foolproof,
those Cheaters could regain control of the game.
And with more dairies popping up in Wisconsin
and across the globe, the results of this game
are more important than ever.
Looks like the dean is giving Babcock one more shot
to call the play.
Sylvia's the only cow left!
Can they do it?
Babcock is pulling out the stops.
He has all his tools in place.
Here comes the snap.
The machine is off!
It's spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning!
The cream is headed straight for the flask's end zone!
I can't believe it!
Babcock in for the score!
What an amazing play!
[marching band fanfare] [fireworks exploding]
That is one for the history books.
The dairy industry will never be the same.
The crowd is going wild.
Babcock created a machine that efficiently
and accurately finds the amount of butter fat in milk.
That play will forever be known as the Babcock test.
A true team player, Babcock works not for praise,
but for the good of humanity. [crowd cheering]
But wow!
What a list of accomplishments!
Confidence in the dairy industry
has been restored for years to come.
[upbeat folk music]
[lively string music]
[cheerful music]
- Narrator: Have you ever flipped over a plastic bottle
and seen a triangle with a number on the bottom?
That little number is a clue to the story of Milly Zantow,
a Wisconsinite whose ingenuity and activism
changed recycling all over the world.
When Milly heard that the landfill in Sauk County
was going to close early, she was worried.
It was only five years old, and it was already almost full!
Even worse, toxic chemicals from the garbage
were leaking into the ground.
What's more, another landfill might not be ready for years!
Where would all the garbage go? [garbage falling]
And why were people making so much trash in the first place?
So Milly went to the landfill and started investigating.
She noticed the trucks coming and going,
dumping lots of things, but mostly, she noticed plastic.
Plastic, plastic, plastic!
Milly knew a bit about plastic--
how more and more things were being made with it,
and how much of it was being used for packaging--
stuff that people were using just once,
then throwing away!
She also knew that plastic would not decompose
for a long, long time.
Hundreds of years!
Something needed to change.
Milly had grown up on a farm during the Great Depression.
Her family made good use of everything they had,
and when something was used up or worn out, they repurposed it.
She was as thrifty as they came,
and all this waste didn't make sense to her.
She knew some things were already being recycled.
Why not plastics?
Milly went to the county board and told them
they should recycle the plastic waste going into the landfill,
but they said they couldn't because they didn't know how.
She thought back to the plastic items
she saw being dumped into the landfill.
Many of them were milk jugs.
So she called up a Milwaukee milk company with a question:
[phone rings]
- Milly: "What happens if there's a defect in a milk jug?"
- Manufacturer: "Well, we just melt down the jug
and blow it again."
- Narrator: Milly also went to local plastics companies
and asked if they could use recycled plastic
to make their products.
They told her it wasn't that easy.
There were many different types of plastic
mixed together in the garbage, but those different types
couldn't be melted together to make something new.
The plastic waste needed to be sorted, cleaned, and ground up
for companies to be able to use it.
And who was going to do that?
[whooshing] Milly knew what she had to do:
save the landfills from overflowing
and save the Earth by recycling plastic.
She went to the nearby university
to learn how to do tests
to tell the different types of plastic apart:
Scratch tests! - Milly: Oh!
- Narrator: Float tests! [splash]
- Milly: Ah-ha!
- Narrator: Burn tests! [plastic burns and sizzles]
- Milly: Oh!
- Narrator: Smoke tests! [smoke poofs]
- Milly: Ohh... [triumphant music]
- Narrator: Milly also knew that
she would need a way to grind all that plastic
so it could be used. - Milly: Hmm...
- Narrator: She needed a big grinder,
an expensive grinder,
and more than that, she needed help.
She turned to her friend Jenny Ehl.
- Jenny: "Where are we going to get $5,000?"
- Milly: "Well, what about our life insurance?"
- Narrator: Milly and Jenny cashed in their policies,
hopped in a truck, and drove to Chicago.
[gentle folk music] [truck horn beeps]
They hauled their grinder back to Wisconsin
and got to work.
They started E-Z Recycling in 1979.
Their business was all about
making change in their community--
getting people to join them in a recycling revolution!
Even the students from nearby schools helped
by collecting plastic items to be recycled.
Word kept spreading
and soon spilled over into other communities.
The recycling revolution was growing!
[popping] But the work was hard,
and much more than they could do themselves.
They knew they needed a better solution
to make recycling something everyone could do.
The main thing was all that testing.
What if there was a way to tell the plastics apart
without all that extra work?
They put their heads together
and came up with a brilliant but simple idea:
a number for each of the different types of plastic!
Manufacturers could stamp this number into the plastic
so that anyone, anywhere could sort and recycle!
It took years of work for it to catch on,
but they didn't give up.
Even after the numbering system
started to get used around the world,
Milly knew there was still more to do.
It wasn't just about adding a number to a bottle.
It was about changing people's beliefs and actions,
and showing them how recycling
would help people and the environment.
She helped with the writing of Wisconsin's recycling law
and she kept talking with people
about the importance of recycling
everywhere she went.
By seeing a problem in her community
and rallying people around her to find solutions at every turn,
Milly changed Wisconsin and the world.
Milly's story is just the start.
There is still too much waste
and not enough reusing and recycling,
which means there are new opportunities
for innovators just like you
to help make the world better for everyone!
What do you notice in your community?
What will you do?
[wink]
[upbeat folk music]