9 Wisconsin activists you should know about

Activists shaped Wisconsin’s past and are actively paving the way for its future. Here are the hometown heroes you need to know to be in tune with your state.

You probably don’t need us to tell you this, but activism is the heart of social progress. It gets the word out about important causes and organizes people to move in better directions in tandem. After all, if you don’t walk in unison, you can’t make sufficient progress for any cause. 

When we think about the most prominent activists in history, many figures come to mind. There’s Harvey Milk, who empowered queer people to be both seen and heard when he became California’s very first openly gay elected official. Then, there are Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, who both fought endlessly during the Civil Rights Movement to achieve equal rights and opportunities for Black Americans. An even more recent example would be Malala Yousafzai, who’s worked tirelessly to help girls and women across the globe have equal access to education as their male counterparts.

These activists have all made huge waves on large scales, but what about Wisconsin’s hometown heroes? Keeping up with local activists is essential, as it helps you keep your finger on the pulse of local politics, movements, and change, but it can also be hard to start your search. That’s why we did some deep diving to bring you these nine activists who helped shape Wisconsin’s past and are paving the way forward.

1. Colin Kaepernick

One of the biggest activist names to come out of Wisconsin is none other than former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who spent more than half of a decade representing the San Francisco 49ers. The Milwaukee-born activist is most famous for kneeling during the national anthem at professional NFL games. United States tradition says that everyone is supposed to stand and face the American flag every time the national anthem is played, with your right hand on your heart. However, in the face of racial injustice, Kaepernick committed to sitting during the national anthem before later turning to kneeling, which became his signature move. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” the former footballer explained to NFL Media at the time.

Kaepernick’s protest was divisive, but he stood his ground—and those directly around him had his back. The 49ers’ official statement at the time noted that it was his “right … to choose and participate, or not…” and the team’s coach repeated this sentiment (via NFL Media). Kaepernick’s kneeling protest began in 2016, and he’s continued his activism since.

In addition to fighting for racial equality, he’s also become a vegan activist. Kaepernick went vegan in 2016 and has seemingly never looked back. He’s collaborated with brands like Impossible Foods and Ben & Jerry’s to dish out vegan foods to folks who may not have access to the food they need and create vegan versions of traditionally non-dairy foods, respectively. The name of Kaepernick’s vegan Ben & Jerry’s flavor is even a pun on his activism, being named Change the Whirled (which also references the swirls of graham cracker in the ice cream).

Ultimately, Kaepernick fights for racial equality, animal rights, and access to food for everyone, making him an inspiring figure that not enough people realize is from Wisconsin.

Colin Kaepernick with his right arm pulled back to throw a football. (Football Schedule/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

2. Clara Bewick Colby

Women today can thank the suffragist movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for pushing back against political norms and claiming the right to vote. The women who fought for the right to vote were fearless and strived for it for over half of a century before the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was finally ratified in 1920. One such suffragist is a Wisconsin icon, though she sadly passed away in 1916,  so she never got to see the fruits of her labor pay off. Enter Clara Bewick Colby, a British-American woman who bucked norms and fought for what was right through the power of the pen.

Born in 1846, Colby moved from England to the U.S. when she was young and lived her childhood in Windsor, Wisconsin. Her life would see her travel across the country and even the world, with Colby attending the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Budapest, Hungary, in 1913, just three years before her passing. Colby was vocal about her support for women’s rights not only with her voice but also through the “Woman’s Tribune,” a newspaper she started in 1883 and published for more than two decades. It was a thankless, one-woman job, but it helped progress the suffrage movement—and for that, we are all thankful.

3. Jim Yeadon

We all know the story of Harvey Milk becoming California’s first openly gay elected official, but did you know that a Wisconsin man did the same thing just one year before him? Milk was elected in 1977, but Jim Yeadon won an election to sit on the city council of Madison in 1976, earning the title of Wisconsin’s first elected official to be openly gay. Who knew Madison’s history was so far from boring? The year before, in 1975, Yeadon’s law career began, and he’s continued to practice law in the decades since, becoming particularly interested in real estate law over the years.

Yeadon is a staunch LGBTQ+ rights activist, working to help queer people throughout Madison live their most-authentic lives without fear before, during, and after his time on the city council. Nowadays, Yeadon appears to be pretty private, but his activism continues to be felt.

4. Marilyn Morheuser

Marilyn Morheuser is a fixture in Milwaukee’s history. This activist was originally from St. Louis, Mo, but once she moved to Milwaukee, the rest was, well, history. Morheuser lived from 1924 to 1995, and she lived much of her life in service, first as a nun and then as a full-time civil rights activist.

Like Clara Bewick Colby, Morheuser’s activism began with a newspaper—“The Milwaukee Star,” in her case, a newspaper written and published by Black journalists. From there, her activism blossomed, leading to her becoming active in a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later co-founding the Milwaukee United School Integration Committee (MUSIC). 

Morheuser’s journey from nun to activist helped her realize how important it is for every person to do what they can to push back against inequalities. She successfully pulled off a series of school boycotts with MUSIC, and she took up the task of researching and compiling information when the fight to end school segregation ended up in the courtroom. Ultimately, she left Milwaukee and began calling New Jersey home, and she took up a law career that helped her fight for more people on a bigger scale.

While she didn’t live her entire life in Wisconsin, Morheuser’s story is a powerful one, and the ways she touched the city of Milwaukee will never be forgotten.

5. Mai Zong Vue

For Mai Zong Vue, education and community are paramount, and she’s helping to bring both to Hmong folks throughout Wisconsin. If you don’t know, the Hmong people are a specific ethnic group that live throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia, but many live in Wisconsin.

Vue hails from Laos but began calling Kimberly home in 1980. Since then, folk songs from her culture have tethered her to her Hmong heritage, and she went on to earn degrees in business administration and social work, which she’s used to help uplift Hmong people in Wisconsin.

According to Wisconsin Women Making History, Vue co-founded the Hmong Language and Cultural Enrichment Program with her husband, establishing a summer camp where children can learn about Hmong culture in an easygoing environment. This came on the heels of Vue learning that Hmong children were disproportionately struggling with certain school subjects, including reading and math. At her camp, Hmong children are able to learn in a place that’s free of judgment. The Madison School District followed suit after seeing how well her program works and established an official dual bilingual education program. Vue has even written about her experience in a book titled “Hmong in Wisconsin,” which blends her own tales with her scholarly research for a read that’s equal parts deeply personal and profoundly insightful.

Before these educational efforts, Vue had already made a name for herself in the women’s rights sphere, having, for example, attended the United Nations’ Fourth Conference on Women in Beijing, China, as a delegate in the ‘90s. Ultimately, Vue’s story is layered and full of powerful moments, and we encourage you to dig deeper into her work—you won’t regret it.

6. Selena Fox

Selena Fox, who began calling Wisconsin home in the early ‘70s, is a woman who wears many hats, including that of a pagan activist. Fox has long advocated for complete religious freedom, and on top of that, she’s a licensed clinical psychotherapist, having earned her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Fox has worked as a psychotherapist for years, but outside of work, she’s the high priestess and senior minister at Circle Sanctuary. According to its website, the sanctuary is a Nature Spirituality church, as well as a nature preserve and Pagan resource center. It seemingly wears just as many hats as Fox, with both the sanctuary and the high priestess helping people understand both themselves and the world around them in new ways. 

Fox is someone who understands intersectionality well, which is why she’s always simultaneously advocated for the environment, religious rights, women’s rights, and racial rights. She isn’t shy about it, either, which is partially why she’s gained so much fame. Fox has spoken at countless events, including the World Council of Church’s first international interfaith dialogue conference for women in 1988. At the time of writing, Fox is promoting on social media an upcoming speaking engagement at the Summit for Religious Freedom in early April, showing that progress knows no rest.

Activist Selena Fox stands smiling in a purple shirt with beads hanging around her neck. (Robertpaxton/CC BY-SA 2.0)

7. Angela Fitzgerald Ward

Learning about historic activists is always inspiring, but we also need to uplift and support the next wave of activists. In Wisconsin, that wave includes Angela Fitzgerald Ward, who has actively studied “the intersection between education, organizing, and research as it relates to improving outcomes for historically marginalized groups,” per Madison365. Ward has been connecting with people and educating them for years through television thanks to her hosting PBS’ “Wisconsin Life” series and the “Why Race Matters” mini-series. 

Ward’s activism takes a hands-on approach in her daily life. According to her LinkedIn page, she has served as the associate dean of the School of Academic Advancement at Madison Area Technical College since January 2022. In her bio, she further explains that she “has worked collaboratively with school systems to coordinate the delivery of resources and to engage students and families.”

From informing people about “Why Race Matters” to her education efforts, Ward is making waves, and she’s one activist we should all support moving forward.

8. Andrew Cray

Andrew Cray, who was born in Chippewa Falls, was a bright light in the world of LGBTQ+ health, as well as in general. As a transgender man, Cray’s passion for gaining better health protections for queer and trans people took him far—all the way to the White House, in fact.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Cray’s activism dates back to his college days when he served as the Rainbow Alliance’s activism chair at Northwestern University. Cray would go on to study law, and with a law degree and activism experience under his belt, he was able to start enacting change.

Cray’s CV quickly racked up accomplishments, with the advocate working with the National Coalition for LGBT Health, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and more. This led him to make waves in the LGBTQ+ healthcare space, including getting queer and trans healthcare more attention as the Affordable Care Act came to fruition. His magnum opus was the Out2Enroll campaign, which connected LGBTQ+ people with greatly needed healthcare services that fell under the purview of the Affordable Care Act. He’d done the work to gain better coverage, and then he connected people to that coverage to help them live long and healthy lives.

Unfortunately, Cray passed away in 2014 at the age of 28 after being diagnosed with oral cancer. However, his legacy will live forever, as all beautiful souls do.

9. Elle Halo

Like Angela Fitzgerald Ward, Elle Halo is a current activist who everyone in Wisconsin needs to know. Halo is lauded for her work in the realms of LGBTQ+ health, LGBTQ+ rights, and general disparities for marginalized groups.

For example, according to her website, she received the 2023 Woman of the Year Award from the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, and she’s spoken to TMJ4 News about her work. “I am a Black woman of trans-experience,” she told the outlet in 2021 during a series of Milwaukee protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. “It definitely makes me feel good to see LGBTQ leaders like myself have our work elevated with the rest of the movement.” 

Halo gets her leadership skills from her mother, an Evangelical minister, and she credits her community-building skills to her mother, too. Currently, Halo works toward her goals as the founder and consultancy director of TRANCE Consulting LLC, a company focused on grassroots organizing. She also founded The Paris Tikka Mahon Memorial Transition Fund, which uplifts Black trans individuals in Milwaukee by helping them get gender-affirming care.

Overall, Halo is a hometown hero in the most literal sense, and we can’t wait to see how her activism blossoms further from here.

An artistic rendering of Elle Halo shows the activist displaying a progress pride flag with a text overlay that reads “Elle Halo Trance Consulting LLC.” (Elle Halo)

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.