Belonging

Honoring Black and Indigenous histories in Beloit

PBS Wisconsin's Beloit documentary offers a fuller portrait of the city's social and civic history.

When PBS Wisconsin and local partners set out to tell the story of Beloit, the team behind Wisconsin Hometown Stories knew the city’s identity couldn’t be understood without including the histories of its Black and Indigenous communities.

Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Beloit  traces the city’s transformation from a Ho-Chunk village to an industrial hub, while ensuring the documentary conveys voices too often at the margins of civic retrospectives.

Grounded in Indigenous presence

Ho-Chunk tribal historic preservation officer Bill Quackenbush shares the meaning behind Ke-Chunk, the original name for Beloit: “Turtle.” For centuries, the confluence of the Rock River and Turtle Creek served as a seasonal gathering and trade site for the Ho-Chunk people. Their relationship to the land — interrupted by forced removal and war — is presented not as a background detail, but as the foundation of Beloit’s geography and legacy.

Black migration and community building

Bill “Nąąwącekǧize” Quackenbush

Bill “Nąąwącekǧize” Quackenbush, Ho-Chunk Deer Clan Tribal Member serves as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) and Cultural Resources Division Manager for the Ho-Chunk Nation.

The story also highlights the Great Migration, when Black families from Pontotoc, Mississippi, moved to Beloit for industrial jobs. The city became a place in Wisconsin where Black families formed lasting neighborhoods. In a powerful segment, Cheryl Caldwell and Wanda Sloan reflect on their families’ experiences in the Fairbanks Flats, noting both the pain of segregation and the resilience of community life. Beloit was also home to Wisconsin’s first NAACP chapter.

5 workmen stand in front of a foundry.

Black foundry workers at Fairbanks, Morse and Company, a foundry best known for building engines of many kinds. From left to right: Solomon Deberry, Curtis Barber, two unidentified co-workers, and Deberry’s son, Booker T. Deberry. (Wisconsin Historical Society ID 71720, circa 1925).

A more complete portrait

Through interviews, archival footage and on-location filming, the documentary shows how Black residents in Beloit built mutual aid networks and their own civic institutions when barred from white spaces.

By weaving these histories into the broader narrative, Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Beloit offers a deeper view of the city — one shaped by many hands and made stronger by the voices uplifted in this documentary.

 

Our team aims to make visible the people and places that have always mattered in Beloit, even when they haven’t always been named.

Holly De Ruyter

Holly De RuyterHolly De Ruyter

98% of viewers
surveyed said this program was “very” or “extremely” effective in telling the history of Beloit
97% of viewers
surveyed rated the overall quality of this program as “very good” or “excellent”
95% of viewers
surveyed said they learned something new about Beloit from this program
 

I learned a lot. I did not know it was one of the first cities established before Wisconsin was even considered a state.

Kathleen from Menominee FallsWISCONSIN HOMETOWN STORIES: BELOIT

 

I appreciated the inclusion of all the groups of people who came to Beloit. So well done.

Joan from PortageWISCONSIN HOMETOWN STORIES: BELOIT

 

I appreciated the inclusion of African American history and the impact we had on the economic development and growth of Beloit.

Wanda from BeloitWISCONSIN HOMETOWN STORIES: BELOIT

Wisconsin Hometown Stories

Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Beloit

October 20, 2024 | 56m 47s | Rating: TV-PG

Known as the “Gateway to Wisconsin,” the city of Beloit began as a center of trade for the Ho-Chunk Nation and continued to grow with New England agriculture and industry. Explore the history of Beloit: a city filled with opportunity for culturally diverse communities and revitalized by its residents’ pride and investments in a thriving civic life.

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