Nick Censoprano

Nick Censoprano
Nick Censoprano is from Hudson, Ohio. In May 2023, Nick graduated from UW-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in History. In September 2023, he will be attending graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to pursue a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science. Nick appreciates the opportunity to publish his project for Wisconsin 101 and looks forward to continuing to connect people with information and history through a career within libraries and archives. 

By This Author:

A wooden baton, or night stick with a leather hand strap.

OBJECT HISTORY: National Guard Nightstick

In mid-May 1933, battles, clashes, and strikes erupted throughout Wisconsin. The catalyst? Milk. Armed with nightsticks, with support from tear gas and machine guns, Governer Albert G. Schmedeman tasked the National Guard with defending the county’s dairy production plants and shipments of milk from striking farmers.

A group of four men standing on a railroad tracks, dump milk onto the ground from a milk can. Around them are hundreds of empty milk cans strewn about the ground.

The Wisconsin Milk Strikes of 1933

As the effects of the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression rippled through the United States, many working-class Americans felt the economic impacts, including Wisconsin’s farmers. Angry and desperate at the decreasing price that they were receiving for milk, many of Wisconsin’s farmers, producers, and shippers joined a series of three strikes in 1933, colloquially known as the Wisconsin Milk Strikes.

A photograph focused on four men walking down the street. Three wear gas masks and carry nightsticks. They hold another man by his arms, guiding him down the street.

The Consolidated Badger Cooperative and the Shawano Milk Strike of May 1933

After the 1929 Wall Street Market Crash and the subsequent Great Depression, Wisconsin farmers struggled to meet the costs of production associated with dairy commodities. Consequently, the Consolidated Badger Cooperative formed in Shawano, which sought to represent the collective grievances of famers, producers, and shippers in Shawano County.