Greetings from the Center for Campus History and happy Women’s History Month! The March edition of our newsletter celebrates women at UW-Madison and includes fresh Center research, some exciting event news, book recommendations and more!
The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Rebecca M. Blank Center For Campus History is an ongoing effort to expand and enrich UW-Madison’s historical narrative by centering the voices, experiences, and struggles of marginalized groups. As always, if you have a story to share, an event you think should be researched, or a person you think has been overlooked, please email us at centerforcampushistory@wisc.edu.
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Meet Michael Rozier, one of the Center’s student researchers!
Michael is a fourth year Gender & Women’s Studies major passionate about advancing social justice and equity initiatives.
He’s also a husband, dog dad and musician. And he says he’s looking forward to further exploring UW’s culturally rich history!
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Wisconsin Historical Society
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Decades before rideshare companies or location sharing apps, Women in Madison were organizing to help each other get home safely.
This month in Siftings, the Center’s research publication, we have a new article exploring the history of the Women’s Transit Authority, a volunteer-run organization founded in the 1970s that sought to protect and empower women in the Madison community by providing nighttime transportation. Read more here.
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An essayist, poet, cultural critic, and author of A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, Hanif will lead a conversation on the intersections of race, culture, and performance. A follow up Q&A/discussion with the audience will allow UW students to engage with a scholar, artist, and MacArthur fellow on the art of writing culturally relevant prose and the necessity of creating in our current moment.
Friday, April 4, 2025 – 5:30-7:30 PM
Find out more about the event and register here. (Registration opens on Friday, March 21)
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Touching on Michael Jackson, Patti LaBelle, Billy Dee Williams, the Wu-Tan Clan, Dave Chappelle, and more, Abdurraqib reflects on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture.
Each moment in every performance he examines has layers of resonance in Black and white cultures, the politics of American empire, and Abdurraqib’s own personal history of love, grief, and performance.
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We get asked a lot of questions about UW history. Each month we’ll answer one in the newsletter.
This month: In honor of Women’s History Month, does the Center have any good stories of women protesting or organizing at the university? Stories like the anti-war movement and Black Student Strike are pretty well known but it seems women-centered actions are more of a blind spot.
The answer: Do we ever! In fact, one of the earliest instances of women organizing at UW happened all the way back in 1899!
It started with what later generations would call a “panty raid”. The night of October 30, 1899, hundreds of male students gathered on campus for an annual “nightshirt parade” — apparently walking around in their pajamas to serenade female students outside their sororities and dorms. But according to a Daily Cardinal article, a group of “hoodlums” agitated the crowd into pandemonium. Men broke into Ladies’ Hall, ransacking women’s rooms and the basement laundry, and absconding with undergarments and pillows.
But university women weren’t having it. Two days later, female students under the Self-Government Association held a “largely-attended” mass meeting to consider a response. What they decided on was a boycott … of men. Women at the meeting passed a resolution vowing to cut off “social relations with the men of the University until [they] have satisfactorily dealt with the offenders … and until all losses sustained at the time have been made good.” Talk about collective action!
Do you have any burning questions about UW history? Stories or people you think we should look into? Let us know! Email us at centerforcampushistory@wisc.edu.
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Usually Center Director Kacie Lucchini Butcher uses this space to share a book, podcast, movie, quote, or something else she thinks has been adding to the CCH. We're calling it "From The Desk of KLB".
Dan writes: “Zimmermann explores the history of the culture wars in schools, particularly how debates over race, religion, and capitalism manifested within classrooms. He highlights that many contemporary conversations about the culture wars are not new but are part of a long historical process shaped by varying and often converging social, economic, political, cultural, and global movements in different historical eras.”
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As always, if you have a story to share, an event you think should be researched, or a person you think has been overlooked, please email us at centerforcampushistory@wisc.edu.
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