Ethnicity & Identity

Recital Poster / Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / Region 8 - South East

Milwaukee’s Early Mexican Community

Milwaukee’s Mexican community began in 1920, when the Pfister and Vogel Tannery recruited a handful of men from the midwestern states of Mexico to work in their Menominee and Bay View plants on the city’s near south side. Unaware that they had been…

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April 23, 2025

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Recital Poster / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945

Raphael Baez

Raphael Baez, Sr. can be counted as one of the first Mexicans ever to call Milwaukee home. Born in Puebla, Mexico in 1863, Baez began his musical education at the age of nine. From the start, the youngster displayed a remarkable ability…

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April 22, 2025

Indigenous Wisconsin / Ricing Sticks / Lac du Flambeau / Agriculture / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Curators' Favorites / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County / 1987-2011

OBJECT HISTORY: Wild Rice Threshing Machine

Harvested in the early autumn, wild rice has long been an important commodity to Native Americans, including the Ojibwe, who lived in areas where it grew abundantly. This improvised wild rice threshing machine was made and used by Duane Poupart, Sr., a…

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November 17, 2024

Lac du Flambeau / Agriculture / Indigenous Wisconsin / Odanah / Ricing Sticks / Broad History / Ashland County / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Region 1 - North West / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County

Wild Rice and Wetland Conservation

Wild rice grows only in the Great Lakes Region in shallow and calm waters.  It requires specific conditions, nutrient-rich muddy soil and stable water levels, in order to properly grow to maturity, to produce the seeds able to be harvested. Damaging the…

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November 17, 2024

Lac du Flambeau / Odanah / Ricing Sticks / Broad History / Indigenous Wisconsin / Agriculture / Ashland County / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Region 1 - North West / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County

Ricing (Manoominikewin)

Wild rice was depicted in an Ojibwe prophecy before there was even a name for the grain. When the Ojibwe people began to migrate west, they were prophesied to settle where food grows on water. The westward migration was in part because…

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November 16, 2024

Lac du Flambeau / Agriculture / Indigenous Wisconsin / Broad History / Ricing Sticks / Odanah / New Object Histories / Ashland County / Object Histories / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Region 1 - North West / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County

OBJECT HISTORY: Ricing Sticks (Bawa’iganaakoog)

Bawa’iganaakoog, threshers, or knockers, are all words used to refer to the sticks used for the harvesting of wild rice. Wild rice holds extreme cultural importance to Ojibwe culture for several reasons beyond basic sustenance; not only can it be dried and…

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November 16, 2024