ONLINE: Markers, Monuments and Meaning: Wisconsin's Built Environment

press release: Thursday, August 20, 4:00 p.m. (CST) Zoom Webinar

Learn about the role of monumental art in Wisconsin and investigate the current controversy over historical monuments and markers.

While historical organizations have long grappled with how to interpret difficult or contested histories, recent events have added an increased sense of urgency for communities considering the meaning and message of historical markers, monuments, and statues and the critical issue of representation in our built environment. Join us as we invite a panel of experts on monumental art, public history, and memory to discuss the meaning of these markers, monuments, and statues in our state consciousness and to consider how our built environment can better represent all Wisconsinites.

The panel will be moderated by the Ruth and Hartley Barker Director and CEO of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Christian Øverland, and professor of history and director of Marquette University’s Center for Urban Research, Teaching, and Outreach, Dr. Robert Smith. The webinar will be recorded for later viewing.

Panelists:

Aaron Bird Bear (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Diné, enrolled Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Indian Reservation) was appointed as the inaugural Tribal Relations Director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019. Bird Bear joined UW-Madison in 2000 to support the retention and graduation of American Indian and Alaska Native students at the university. In 2009, Bird Bear began supporting historically underrepresented precollege, undergraduate, and graduate/professional students in the UW-Madison School of Education and forwarded the School’s efforts to integrate First Nations Studies into public PK–16 education. Bird Bear is an alumnus of the Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis MS program at UW-Madison.

Kacie Lucchini Butcher is a public historian whose work is dedicated to building empathy, advancing social justice, and helping marginalized communities reclaim their historical narratives. She is currently the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Public History Project, a multi-year effort to uncover and give voice to the histories of discrimination, exclusion, and resistance on campus. The project will culminate in a physical and digital exhibit, public lectures, and curricular materials that allow the Madison community to reckon with this history. Prior to coming to UW, Kacie was the co-curator of the award-winning exhibit Owning Up: Racism and Housing in Minneapolis, which documented the history of racial housing discrimination and its effects on the city today. She is active in the public history community and holds two committee positions for the National Council on Public History.

RSVP: https://wisconsinhistory.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1hdbQtP3SvGqZ1FOF3iu6w