- The following program
is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
- Angela Fitzgerald: Coming up on Wisconsin Life:
meet the founders of a Muslim artist collective,
the first African American mayor in Wisconsin,
an owner of a bookstore sharing inclusive literature,
and a teen taking his skiing talents to the world stage.
That's coming up on Wisconsin Life!
? ?
- Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
Alliant Energy,
A.C.V. and Mary Elston Family,
Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs,
and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
- Hi, I'm Angela Fitzgerald, and this is Wisconsin Life.
Today, we're exploring the Milton House Museum,
a historic building
that is the last certified Underground Railroad stop
that can be toured in Wisconsin.
The hexagon-shaped home in Milton
was built in 1844
by Joseph Goodrich, the city's founder,
and was also used as a local inn.
The museum houses Goodrich's original cabin,
plus artifacts and period pieces of the Victorian era.
But it also tells the story of Wisconsin abolitionists
and how this property, with the underground tunnel,
was used to help freedom seekers.
Although the Milton house has a pathway beneath it,
the Underground Railroad was not underground
or a railroad.
It was the name used
for a secret network of people and locations
that helped enslaved people to freedom.
Even with its history,
the building fell into disrepair over the years.
The Milton Historical Society was formed
to purchase the property and begin restoration
that continues to this day.
We'll get a full tour of the property, tunnel, and cabin
later on.
Now, let's catch up
with the founders
of a Muslim artist collective
in Milwaukee,
helping creatives
share their work.
- Amal Azzam:For me, personally, pink is just such a vibe,
always enjoyed using that color.
I don't like wearing it,
which a lot of people find confusing,
but I love using it, like,
as the staple color in most of my work.
My name is Amal Azzam.
I'm an artist.
I'm also a co-founder of Fanana Banana.
[upbeat techno music]
- I mean, as any community artist,
you're really trying to see what is lacking in the community.
What people are wanting, [squirting]
what they're needing.
So, in those moments, that's what we do.
My name is Nayfa Naji.
I'm a graphic designer and an artist.
- Amal Azzam: But thank you all for coming.
We are just, like, so happy
to see all of your wonderful faces.
There's a huge gap from an artist that is practicing
to a professional artist
that's featured in galleries and represented.
Like, there's a big gap in between that.
And so, I think now our mission is
how we can change that
for ourselves and for other people.
Like, so many artists leave and go to Chicago.
And it's like, "Well, there's a reason for that.
Hey, why don't we try to do something about it?"
And that's literally how Fanana came to be.
- Nayfa Naji: We went straight into, like,
"Okay, let's make a logo.
Let's come up with a name."
So, Fanana in Arabic means 'artist.'
And then, banana just gave it that goofy twist to it. [laughs]
- Amal Azzam: It started with shedding a spotlight
on Muslim or MENA artists.
And now, I think it's for artists that need it, I think.
[upbeat music]
- Singer: ? Are you the definition of insanity ?
? Or am I ?
- Amal Azzam: We want the artists to have,
at least, semi-full house
when we're having the shows,
so they can get their work seen
and have people follow them on Instagram.
Some artists actually have had their work sold,
which was really, really cool.
- Mal Montoya: All you artists, please raise your hands real quick.
Their exposure to this general public
is changing the landscape of art and culture
here in Milwaukee.
- Amal Azzam: The current exhibition at MARN is titled
"Reflecting My Muslim Americanism,"
and it's a show that features local Muslim artists.
And it features their work
and the way that they represent their own identity,
and the personal struggles,
or just stories of Muslims in America.
- Nayfa Naji: This has been a personal journey,
as, like, struggling with being Muslim, being American,
and also being Palestinian.
So, to be able to showcase our artworks
and give other artists the opportunity to do the same
is really important, so thank you, guys.
[applause]
Nayfa Naji: It also benefits people who don't know us.
And it's like, they're able to see us through art.
It's about a community and understanding.
It's really, really about understanding, honestly.
How can things get better?
How can things change?
Like, what is it
that people are wanting or needing right now?
- Angela: Next, we go to Fitchburg
to meet a woman who's made history
as a leader in our state.
[upbeat piano music]
- In politics, she paved a path.
- Frances Huntley-Cooper: My background in social work helped a lot.
- Angela: A very lonely path.
- I was nervous.
- Angela: Frances Huntley-Cooper did something
no other African American in Wisconsin had ever done.
- Frances Huntley-Cooper: I never had any aspiration to be in politics.
And, with my personality, I was just so surprised
that I was in the political world, you know.
One minute you have an opinion,
and the next minute you're elected.
- Angela: On the Fitchburg Common Council,
her personality won over politicians and voters.
- People saw something in me,
and they gave me a chance, and they believed in me,
and they supported me.
- Angela: The job of running for Fitchburg mayor
made Frances a bit uneasy.
- I'm a straight shooter so a lot of people
sometimes, don't want to hear what I have to say,
and not everyone rolls that way.
- Angela: By the time election day rolled around...
- Frances Huntley-Cooper: I said, "Okay, just be calm.
You've done the best you can."
I think I went shopping that afternoon
'cause I said, you know, "What else am I gonna do?"
- Angela: That night, the impossible became possible.
- Frances Huntley-Cooper: Then, we found out we were winning.
- Angela: Frances was on the verge
of making Wisconsin history.
- Frances Huntley-Cooper: There's a picture with me yelling, screaming,
my mouth wide open, you know, just so excited.
I didn't see myself as just representing African Americans.
I saw myself as representing
the entire City of Fitchburg, the entire population.
I didn't want the campaign to focus on being the first.
I wanted the campaign to focus on the issues.
- Angela: In 1991,
Frances became the first African American mayor
in the entire state.
- Frances Huntley-Cooper has been elected
to the office of mayor for the city of Fitchburg
in an election held on April the second.
- Angela: Then, Frances waited.
And for more than 30 years,
she waited for another African American to join her club.
- Really saddens me because that was in 1991.
That hurts.
I am surprised.
Maybe there's an opportunity for someone else to step in,
join my club of one, now be two.
That would be nice.
But you can't believe
in Wisconsin, that has not happened yet.
[crowd cheering]
- Angela: And then, it did happen.
- Well, Milwaukee!
[crowd cheering]
- Angela: In April 2022,
Cavalier Johnson is elected Milwaukee's first
and Wisconsin's second Black mayor.
- Frances Huntley-Cooper: Wow, history!
History in the making the second time, I believe.
It's so nice to have a mayor joining my club.
- Tonight, this city,
for the first time in our 176-year history,
has elected its first Black mayor.
We did it! [crowd cheering]
- You know, I'm wishing him the best.
I'm pleased to have him join my club after 31 years.
- Angela: Years of hard work and bravado
earned Frances connections in high places
across Wisconsin and the Nation.
- Maya Angelou came to speak exactly 20 years ago
when I was president of TEMPO Madison.
I have a picture of me and Bill Clinton.
This was before he became the president.
2013 holiday card from the Obamas.
Barack has signed it.
What a nice card!
- Angela: Today, Frances still serves the community,
on the Madison College board and with the NAACP.
She also volunteers at the Governor's Mansion
on the Wisconsin Executive Residence Foundation.
- Frances Huntley-Cooper: Never heard of the organization.
I don't know who I thought took care of the residence. [laughs]
You know, took care of all the ins and outs.
People want to feel like they're part of the system,
not being excluded.
So, I'm just real excited.
- Angela: Frances has built a legacy in Wisconsin.
- Frances Huntley-Cooper: I rarely talk about my history,
but I'm learning that I need to do better.
This was my official one.
I hope people will say,
"Boy, that little lady came from nowhere."
Grew up in North Carolina
and came to Wisconsin.
People believed in me.
They gave me a chance.
And I tried to work hard and not embarrass myself,
more or less anyone else.
I wanted to leave the doors open,
and I wanted to leave a positive image and impression
on African Americans serving.
- I'm at the Milton House Museum,
learning about the building, its founders,
and the history of this Underground Railroad stop.
Our tour begins in the lobby of the Milton House
to meet with the Executive Director, Keighton Klos.
So, can you give us a brief overview
of what we should expect during our tour today?
- Yeah, so we are the last certified
Underground Railroad site in the state of Wisconsin
that you can tour.
So, that's what draws a lot of people to our building.
So, on the tour, you're going to see the hexagon,
which was built as a stagecoach inn in 1844,
learn about Joseph, who not only builds the building,
but he also founds the town of Milton,
and then, learn about how this was operated
as an Underground Railroad site.
- I want to get started. - Alright, let's do it!
- So, now we're in the stagecoach inn?
- Yeah, so this area, the front part of the stagecoach inn,
would have been where the lobby was.
So, think about coming in.
You're going to stay with Joseph.
This is where you would come in, you would check in.
So, you'd give your name, you'd pay, you'd get a room number,
just kind of like you'd do at a hotel today.
We have about 25 stagecoaches coming every day.
If there's people coming and going all the time,
different times of day, they don't notice anything.
It actually, in a weird way, works as a good cover
for the Underground Railroad site.
It wouldn't have been uncommon for people to share a room
and to share the bed possibly.
- So, Keighton, we've transitioned a bit
from touring the stagecoach
to now getting into more of the history of the Milton House.
So, can you set the stage
for the purpose of the Milton House
within a larger context of abolitionist work in Wisconsin?
- In this space,
we're really trying to help people understand
what's going on with the Underground Railroad
in the country, why it's important,
and then, how it's happening in Wisconsin.
And Wisconsin is a leading abolitionist state at that time.
And they actually have an instance where
they're refusing to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
- So, we had, on one hand, the hotel setup
that we previously viewed.
On the other hand, the residence of the family
that was secretly supporting slaves pursuing freedom.
- The mural's a good transition for us
from this space
down into the cellar of the stagecoach
where freedom seekers were kept while they were here.
So, this mural was painted by a local artist,
and it uses our freedom seeker, Andrew Pratt,
that we know by name,
kind of his story, his inspiration.
It shows freedom seekers on a plantation.
And then, as you go down the steps,
you're following them essentially
on their journey to Milton.
- So, what is this space?
- So, we've come all the way into the cellar
or the basement of the Milton House.
And so, this is the room that we think freedom seekers
would have been kept in while they were at the Milton House.
It was a root cellar, so guests of the hotel and staff
are not going to be coming into this space,
so it was a relatively safe space for them to be.
- Got it, and how would they have gotten into this space?
- So, there actually was a tunnel.
So, we have a recreation of the tunnel,
which is right back here.
So our tunnel, it still goes in the same footprint,
but it's made taller and has lights and stone
so we can walk through it.
But the original tunnel was about 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall,
and it would have just been dug out of the earth,
so you would have had to crawl on your hands and knees.
About 45 feet long, pitch black, dark.
It would have been an uncomfortable idea to go through it.
- Well, that shows what, you know,
the drivers behind dealing with those sort of conditions.
- Yeah, what they were willing to endure
to get to freedom.
- Exactly.
- They would just be on their hands and knees.
- Yes, yes, so we're still going in the exact same footprints
that they walked.
- So this would have been the origin point?
- Yeah, so we think how it worked is
there would have been a wagon full of supplies
that would have been brought to the cabin,
and as the supplies were being unloaded, so was the person,
and they would use the cellar here,
and that would connect with the tunnel,
and they could get into the cellar of the Milton House.
And then, that would just reverse
when it was time to leave again.
- Wow, and because of the traffic
that was constantly coming and going
because of the stagecoach,
it didn't alarm anyone that there was traffic over here.
- Exactly, it was just another wagon being unloaded,
and people just pretty much ignored it.
So, it worked as a good cover.
- Thank you so much for our tour today, Keighton.
- Keighton: Yeah, thank you so much for coming.
I really appreciate it.
- Angela: We now
travel to Madison,
where a bookstore owner
is sharing their love
for literature by creating
an inclusive and supportive space.
[upbeat music]
[turning lock]
- My name is Gretchen Treu, and I am a co-owner
of A Room of One's Own Bookstore.
I grew up in the country.
I was an only child.
I had wonderful parents who loved me.
I biked into town in the summers
and hung out at the library all day.
I, early on, was always pushing whatever book I was reading
on my close friends. [laughs]
And we would forge, kind of, a little community
around the stories we were bringing to each other.
And I guess that really has informed how I relate to books.
I've never thought of books as being solitary.
- Just, I was here picking up a book, and I said...
- I went to college,
and I just kept gravitating back to being an English major.
And I used to come and hang out at the store
even before that when I was in high school.
It was the trendy place to go as a closeted queer youth.
I would hang out there.
I would get a lot of coffee in my early undergrad days.
And I started out working in the café
that used to be in the space.
And so, I just kind of slowly accreted more and more jobs
until finally, I was a full-time employee,
and I did that for several years
before the owners at the time wanted to retire.
And so, they were looking for someone to buy the store.
Our landlord indicated
that they were not going to be renewing the lease.
There was no option.
And that they are selling the building.
We were about eight months into the pandemic
when we got this news, so it was really tough.
Umm... [nervous laugh]
But we've been scraping it through.
It would never have been my choice.
Moving a bookstore is not easy,
and it's been more work than I even thought it would be,
and I knew it was going to be a lot of work.
But it's kind of exciting
to have the opportunity to really make something
that's ours from the beginning.
Because historically,
this is the safe place for women, specifically,
and our recent swap over to being trans-inclusive space
actually upsets some people.
I try to have respect for the store's history,
and I try to make space for people
who remember it in a certain way
while still holding firm
that this is a store that has always tried to be progressive,
and you can't be progressive if you're not progressing.
We make decisions about small things, like,
what books are face-out,
what kinds of messages we are putting out there on social media,
the kind of personality that we have,
which is much stronger,
a little bit more, sometimes abrasive,
but always in service to the anger of the just.
Sometimes, it makes me a little uncomfortable, which is good.
It has certainly been my great privilege
to work with people
who hold me and the store accountable
because it matters
and say, "Hey, this voice, this space matters to people,
"and we have a duty and a possibility
to make the world a little bit better."
I think it's a way to engage in our global conversation,
and a way to learn to think critically about anything.
Being a critical reader
and being a reader, and a person in the book world
means recognizing that stories have power.
Stories have power to influence and affect people.
"What does a book do in your life?
"What does it change about you,
and what can it change about the world?"
I think are questions that I grapple with all the time
because I do believe in the power of story
and the power of books to change the world.
- Angela: For our final story,
we head to Chippewa Falls
to join a dedicated teen
taking his talents
to an international level.
? ?
[class bell rings]
In the halls of Chippewa Falls High School,
Ty Wiberg is on a mission.
- Teacher: Todos son muy curiosos, ¿no?
- Sí. - Sí.
- Ty is starting the final semester of his senior year
and studying Spanish.
[laughing]
- ¡Esa es una oportunidad fantástica!
- In any language, the past year for Ty
has been filled with fantastic opportunities.
Because of what he's done out here.
[click]
[skis brush against snow]
Ty competes for the Chippewa Valley Nordic Ski Team,
sometimes practicing more than five nights a week.
- Come on, Ty, you got five seconds.
Go, go, go!
- So, if I'm going really hard,
I'm thinking about just speeding up my stroke
and just tell myself, just pull, pull, pull.
Or sometimes when I'm on a nice, easy ski,
it's just kinda thinking about, you know,
what am I gonna have for dinner tonight
when I get done with practice.
Most nights, there's not a lot of time to think about dinner.
- Way to go, Ty!
- Because Ty has been training
for the US National Championships.
- So, it's kind of a tough practice
just to get those quicker sprints in
to get me ready for a couple of the races I'm doing.
- Qualifying for nationals was a big deal for Ty and his parents.
- This is kind of amazing
because he just got into Nordic
within the last couple of years
and to be competing in Utah at a national level.
[skis gliding through snow]
- However, that competition
would open the door for the unexpected.
- The coach for Team USA pulled me off to the side,
and she asked me, "Ty, do you have a passport?"
And I looked at her a little puzzled,
and she's like, "Well, you're going to Germany."
It took a second for it to register,
and I was like, "Are you serious?"
- Team USA selected Ty
to be part of their national development team.
The news spread quickly.
From that moment,
Ty could feel the support of family and community
at every turn.
- Keep that spirit up. - Thank you.
It's a really cool experience
to see that community behind me.
See all the people that are supporting me,
even people that I've never met before.
- Get 'em, get 'em, get 'em!
- For his first international competition,
Ty kept his aspirations simple.
- My goal is to go out there,
have as much fun as possible,
and soak up the environment.
I'm just gonna measure success by skiing my hardest.
I'm just looking forward to,
obviously, skiing against the best in the world.
- Skiing for Team USA is quite an accomplishment
for this Wisconsin teen born with spina bifida.
- So when I was born, my spinal cord was outside of my back,
so it affects all of the nerves below that.
I don't have control over my legs.
So I don't have feeling in my feet.
- Al Wiberg: That shock, I remember that day specifically
when we were sitting in the doctor's office,
and they said that,
and then when we're traveling down to Mayo Clinic.
It was actually 9/11.
And they're all telling you
all these worst-case scenarios.
- Michele Wiberg: It would be very easy
to make a million and one excuses
as far as,
"I can't do this because I have spina bifida.
I can't do this because of my disability,"
and instead, he says,
"Well, maybe I just had to find a different way to do it."
- Ty Wiberg: I had to overcome a lot of stereotypes having a disability
and then, even just the challenges
of trying to find ways to adapt the sports.
- At the World Championships, Ty's winning attitude paid off.
Not in a first-place finish or spot on the medal stand.
For Ty, it's about so much more.
- I didn't place super high, but my times improved a lot.
That's kind of all that mattered for me,
and I was super happy placing where I did.
It was the best I had felt finishing last.
It showed me how much harder I need to work.
I definitely came back motivated,
motivated more than ever
because it's an attainable goal now.
- Michele Wiberg: And I think the best part about Ty,
he just embraces who he is.
When people ask him,
"If you could take away your disability,"
he would say, "Absolutely not."
He said, "My disability doesn't define me,
but it is who I am
and I would not be where I am today
if it weren't for my disability.
- Ty Wiberg: I'm being noticed for my hard work,
and it's just a great feeling.
If you wanna do something, go out and do it
because you can't let anyone tell you differently.
Ty Wiberg is determined.
Ty Wiberg is tenacious.
- We've explored history at the Milton House Museum
and met remarkable people from around the state.
To check out more, visit us at WisconsinLife.org
or connect with us on social media.
Do you have a story to tell?
Email us at Stories@WisconsinLife.org.
Next time on Wisconsin Life:
The designer behind a botanical-themed light show,
- It's just trying to do stuff
that no one else has done before.
- A comedian exploring how much Wisconsinites
love to talk about the weather.
a yogi bringing the moves.
- We don't end up in these situations by accident.
- And artists who find empowerment through creation.
That's next time on Wisconsin Life!
Until next time, I'm Angela Fitzgerald,
and this is our Wisconsin Life.
Bye!
[upbeat music]
- Funding for Wisconsin Life
is provided by
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
Alliant Energy,
A.C.V. and Mary Elston Family,
Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs,
and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.