Wisconsin Life

- 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 caf 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?

- S.

- S.

- Ty is starting the final semester of his senior year and studying Spanish.

[laughing] - Esa es una oportunidad fantstica!

- 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 [email protected].

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.