Digging in to UW’s Past, Skeletons and All

“History is written by the victors.” That’s often attributed to Winston Churchill. 

But what about the other sides of the story? The stories we don’t learn about in school: how some students and staff were denied housing due to their race and why some UW leaders held dangerous, racist ideas about genetic superiority. And what about the stories of students who fought to make campus more accessible and better for all? 

The UW Public History Project is here to tell them. Kacie Lucchini Butcher is the project’s director. The project’s work evokes another famous quote, this one closer to home, from former UW President Charles Kendall Adams: 

“Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.” 

Learn more:

🎓 Sifting & Reckoning: UW–Madison’s History of Exclusion and Resistance

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