WI communities committed to honoring history, contributions of immigrants

Amid mass federal anti-immigration sentiment, Wisconsin advocates and communities are committed to honoring the contributions of immigrants to the state through its historical markers program.

The Wisconsin Historical Society heads the program, which organizers said serves to commemorate key persons, events and places important to the state.

Malloy Hanson, statewide services coordinator for the agency, said the markers are a powerful tool for sharing stories about the past and teaching history where it happened. She hopes people will get curious and be inspired to further research local history.

“A marker isn’t just a signal that something happened here,” Hanson explained. “It’s indicating that a community is invested in passing that history on, so true community engagement is essential to this program.”

There are more than 600 historical markers across the state. Some of the newest ones were recently unveiled in Milwaukee and focus on the history of Chinese Americans in Wisconsin. Hanson noted anyone can apply to nominate a marker at WisconsinHistory.org.

The Organization of Chinese Americans Wisconsin collaborated with the Wisconsin Historical Society to install the markers at Forest Home Cemetery and the YWCA Southeast Wisconsin building, the site of a former Chinese laundry.

Adrian Chan, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and a member of OCA Wisconsin, said they wanted to bring awareness to the significance of the Chinese laundry era in Milwaukee, which spanned 110 years. He emphasized the commemorations are the first in Wisconsin to recognize Chinese or Asian historic presence.

“By the 1930s, Milwaukee had 58 Chinese laundries, done by hand, so these are hot, labor-intensive, undesirable work,” Chan pointed out. “Modern technology of the ’60s and ’70s brought the demise of the Chinese hand laundry business.”

Chan added the cemetery marker highlights some of the earliest burial sites of Chinese men who worked in America. He explained the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prevented them from bringing their families over or marrying, so many Chinese men died as bachelors.

State legislation passed in 2023 to include the contribution of Wisconsin’s Hmong Americans and Asian Americans in K-12 curriculum. Chan emphasized the two historic markers serve as continued efforts to make their communities more visible.

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