Settlement history of Blacks and Black environmentalists in Wisconsin

Cover photo and text by Jeff Galligan

As the co-founder of the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin, I am working to create safe spaces and community for birders of color in what has traditionally been a white space. In my professional life, much of what I do is centered around developing and providing academic supports and opportunities to assist students of color, first generation students and students with disabilities in achieving academic success and credential completion. In my personal life, I am very keen about helping to create equitable opportunities for people of color in conservation and environmental and natural sciences as well as creating chances for young kids of color to be exposed to STEM fields while experiencing the outdoors of Wisconsin.

Christopher Kilgour, founder of Color in the Outdoors says “There have been multitudes of studies that have proven over and over the importance of maintaining and fostering a healthy and sustainable ecosystem and, as time goes on, it continues to be apparent that this responsibility is shared by ALL of us. It is only until we come to terms with the fact that engagement with and the ultimate survival of our planet is driven by the need for a communal approach. In addition, as we continue to examine the human condition, more specifically issues surrounding mental and physical health and wellbeing, it has also been shown that the connection to nature and outdoor spaces provide an abundance of spaces and environments to re-center, re-group, and re-ground on levels that go much deeper than many can explain. Maintaining these spaces and places for that healing and reset is an integral part of a healthy world.”

• An increase in research is Research has increasingly validated and legitimized the power that being outdoors has on a person’s mental health and wellbeing. A study from the University of Exeter in England found that people living in neighborhoods with more birds and tree cover are less likely to have depression, anxiety, and stress. (CNN Health)

• Another study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that just listening to bird song contributes to perceived attention restoration and stress recovery. (CNN Health)

• University of Washington environmental psychologist Gregory Bratman says the, “Evidence is there to support the conclusion that contact with nature benefits our mood, our psychological well-being, our mental health, and our cognitive functioning.” (Audubon)

If simply living in a place where there is tree cover and the sounds of birds permeate the environment, even if on a subconscious level of awareness, has a demonstrably positive impact on a person’s health and happiness, imagine what intentional immersive experiences in broader natural areas would do.

Because so many children of color are not exposed to or provided opportunities for STEM experiences, and because they do not see people who look like them in STEM fields, they far too often do not imagine or believe a career in STEM is for them. This is compounded when you narrow the view of scientific fields to those in conservation, environmentalism, and natural sciences. These fields tend to have been doing much better in recent times in terms of gender equity, but still have very little ethnic diversity.  

In a 2018 report titled “The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations,” University of Michigan professor Dorcet E. Taylor examined the gender, racial, and class diversity of over 300 environmental organizations boards and staff from. Her research found that while ethnic minorities account for 38% of the United States population, they only account for 16% of board members and staff of these types of organizations. (Taylor 2018). It is important to note that these statistics are not because there is no interest in the environment or conservation in communities of color or because people of color do not want those kinds of jobs. This is all about access, opportunity, and equity. Historically, people of color are, as children, often told what they can or cannot do by people entrusted with their education who do not look like them. It happened to me. It happened to my children. It is something I have heard from friends and students ad nauseum.  When you couple this “pigeonholing” with lack of opportunity or access to natural areas and immersive experiences (a significant issue for people growing up in urban areas of large cities), it is easily apparent why, in part, the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the natural sciences is such a glaring issue.

As part of the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin, I have met some fantastic people and collaborated with amazing organizations that are committed to diversifying their staff and participants. I am appreciative of the genuine and transparent work being done on some fronts but realize that so much more needs to be done to ensure that all children have exposure to immersive opportunities in STEM fields, especially in the natural, environmental and conservation sciences. We all have a vested interest in what happens with this earth. The decisions that are made today regarding conservation and climate warming will affect all of us and our children. It is imperative that we all have a seat at the table when these kinds of long-reaching decisions are being discussed and made.

During the summer of 2022, I decided to take my Master Naturalist Certification, something I have wanted to do for many years. As part of this process, a final project requiring a minimum of three hours is required. As I have heard very little regarding historical Black environmentalists, conservationists, or other types of natural scientists and their contributions to science, I decided to research this topic both on a national scale and in the state of Wisconsin.

What I found dismayed me… and inspired me.

While I had no difficulty in finding information on a few national historical figures such as Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver, as well as some lesser-known figures such as York, Captain Charles Young, Solomon Brown, and MaVynee Oshun Betsch, I found nothing regarding any historical contributions made by Blacks in the State of Wisconsin. Of course, my research was not exhaustive, so there may be existing information I did not find. If that is the case, the argument then is that it is not readily available as a part of a true accounting of the historical past of Blacks and their contributions to the natural world in Wisconsin.  

This, then, naturally led me to begin wondering about the history of Blacks in Wisconsin beyond the sciences.  Was there a history? If so, why is it not known? What happened to it? From a historical perspective, I had to reevaluate what my project direction and emphasis would be. I decided that I would start with researching and highlighting the history of Blacks in Wisconsin, where they came from and why they came to Wisconsin. This will serve as a foundation for highlighting current individuals, groups and organizations that are involved in environmental justice and increasing communities and outdoor experiences in nature for people of color.

I believe that, because of my voice and the platform I now have, I am obligated to increase awareness of the Black experience in Wisconsin and help move the needle of acceptance and equity, inclusion, and diversity in the outdoors. My goal is to amplify the instrumental work Black men and women and all people of color are currently doing in preservation, conservation, outdoor education, environmentalism, and in creating opportunities for people of color to enjoy the beauty and majesty of the Wisconsin outdoors. 

What I found in terms of the historical context was an amazing, long, complex, and rich history of Blacks in Wisconsin. What I also found was the stark reality that it is a history that has been largely ignored, unacknowledged or erased from the record.

I believe that a fundamental part of atoning for the sins of the past is an unadulterated acknowledgement of what happened and any wrongs that were inflicted against others and a willingness to repair damage whenever possible. In the case of the long and rich history of Blacks in Wisconsin, part of that process is rectifying the erasure of much of this history, which means educating all Wisconsin citizens on the information that is there. For far too long the histories and contributions of people of color have been ignored, erased, or limited to a gray box on a single page in a textbook.

Christy Clark-Pujara, associate professor of history and Afro-American studies at UW-Madison said the history of Black Americans and other communities of color in the American Midwest is a growing area of research because there are so many missing pieces.

“There is a perception among most Wisconsinites that there is no racism to overcome. Due to the erasure of and lack of importance placed on the history and contributions of Blacks in Wisconsin, that perception extends to a lack of awareness of the long, rich, and complex settlement history of Blacks in Wisconsin.” (Source: Up North News)

To provide a perspective on the lack of recognition the contributions people of color receive in the state of Wisconsin, “of Wisconsin's 600 historical markers, just seven commemorate the history of the state's Black residents. And none recognize the history of Hmong, Hispanic, or LGBTQ communities.” (Source: NPR)

Black Settlement History in Wisconsin

The earliest record of African Americans in Wisconsin comes from a 1725 speech by a chief of the Illinois Indians. In the speech, he reported that their enemies, the Fox Indians, had massacred four Frenchmen and "a negro belonging to Monsieur de Boisbriant" at Green Bay.

Many of the first African Americans in Wisconsin were enslaved people brought to Wisconsin with French explorers and fur traders. In 1746, the commander of the French garrison at Green Bay brought an enslaved Black man with him. When the French surrendered Wisconsin to the English in 1760, the peace provisions allowed Charles de Langlade and other settlers to retain their "negro and Pawnee" slaves.

Not all African Americans involved in the fur trade were enslaved, however. About 1791, two free black traders opened a post at Marinette, near the mouth of the Menominee River and a trader a Black fur trader named Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable prospered in the Chicago area and was well known to Wisconsin settlers from 1779-1800.

In the 1820’s and 1830’s, miners migrated north to Wisconsin from southern states to mine lead. Many of these white settlers often brought their enslaved people with them. Although some were freed in Wisconsin, others, like a woman in Grant County named "America," were eventually sent back into slavery in the South. In 1846 Paul Jones, an enslaved man, upon finding himself on free soil in Wisconsin, even sued his master in 1846 for back wages.

In the 19th century there were two Black Two black communities that existed far from urban centers. Cheyenne Valley, in rural Forest Township, Vernon County was the largest and consisted of several families of free blacks and escaped slaves that settled there before the Civil War. They coexisted alongside Norwegian, Irish, and Bohemian immigrants from Europe and sharing of tools and labor and intermarriage were common. The second smaller community was in Grant County, where 35 free blacks were counted in the 1860 census. Most lived in the community of Pleasant Ridge, in Beetown, where the first African American settlers had arrived in 1848. Both Cheyenne Valley and Pleasant Ridge sent soldiers to the Civil War and welcomed former slaves from the South into their communities after the war.

Freedom, Wisconsin, a place birders love for the density of Snowy Owls that winter in the area, was named by an escaped slave named, Andrew Jackson. The township, which considered Jackson a neighborhood friend, wanted to name the town "Jackson." Jackson refused and said the name should be called "Freedom," for that's where he found his freedom after escaping from a slave master in the south, around the year 1850.

In 1926, Lake Ivanhoe became the first Black-founded town in Wisconsin. Founded by three prominent Black Chicago leaders, it was a weekend getaway and a safe place to vacation in the summer during the era of segregation and “sundown towns” (white communities where Blacks were not welcome after dark). Now with a population of just under 500, it is 6 miles east of Lake Geneva. Blacks now make up 6% of the total population.

While the literature has very little information on historical Black naturalists or environmental scientists or of any contributions made to the sciences in the state of Wisconsin, that is no longer the case. Numerous groups and individuals are doing great things for communities of color in the outdoors in Wisconsin.

Modern Black-led Environmentalists or Groups in Wisconsin

The BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin
Website: bipocbirdingclub.org

The BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin was founded in Madison, Wisconsin in June of 2021 by me (Dr. Jeff Galligan) and Dexter Patterson. A Milwaukee chapter coordinated by Rita Flores Wiskowski was also created in October of that same year.

“There’s not a lot of diversity in the birding community,” says Rita Flores Wiskowski. “People from diverse communities—Black, Latino, and others—do not feel like they fit in or even see [birding] as an option. It is the last thing they think about because they do not know anybody in their communities or their families who are birding.”

One of the reasons Dexter Patterson and I started the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin was to improve our mental health, as we were still in the COVID quarantine era. We have both been open about that and believe it is important to be able to talk about mental health.  Dexter says “I love birds because they changed my life. Before I met birds, and this was pre-pandemic, I was really struggling with my mental health. I always tell people that nature heals.”

Established as a community of people of color who love the outdoors and the birds and beauty of natural Wisconsin and wish to connect with others who share the same passion, the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin creates safe spaces for people of color in the outdoors through outdoor birding activities and outdoor experiences. Individuals and families of all ages and at any level of birding experience are invited and encouraged to join us.

While the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin seeks to promote outdoor birding activities and outdoor experiences for people of color, anyone who shares and supports our values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access for all are welcome to join this group. We are family-friendly, and people of all ages are invited and encouraged to join them at events.

Experience and knowledge are not required to attend BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin events. What is important is having a desire and willingness to see and learn about Wisconsin's birds, animals, and plants and explore its beauty with others who share the same passion and curiosity in a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment.

Color in the Outdoors
Website: colorintheoutdoors.com

Christopher Kilgour, Founder of Color in the Outdoors (CITO), has spent his entire life exploring and enjoying the outdoors in one capacity or another. His main motivation for starting CITO was to be able to connect people with the outside world and with other like-minded individuals and organizations. The guiding principles behind CITO hold a strong space in advocacy for diversity, equity, and inclusion and it is with these concepts in mind that all the activities, partnerships, links, and resources are developed and presented.

According to Kilgour, “The world as we know it is rapidly changing and evolving. One of those changes is the "movement of the needle" in population demographics. The world is becoming a predominantly brown population. With this in mind, there are even more reasons added to the importance of engaging with the literal future of our planet to maintain a healthy global environment with and for us. Access to outdoor spaces is a fundamental right. I still find it a challenge to wrap my head around how we as occupants, not owners, of this planet have found it appropriate/necessary to not only create boundaries and barricades (both literal and figurative) that are exclusive to others.”

Stewardship, sustainability, education, and mentorship are core components of the CITO ideology, and, with the help of partners and collaborations, Christopher hopes to widen the support, advocacy, and engagement in diversifying perspective of and participants in the outdoor world and our relationship to it.

Regarding the beginnings of Color in the Outdoors, Kilgour says “I technically started doing outdoor activities, informally but under the CITO name, in 2000. The entity became a formal business three years ago. My inspiration for starting Color in The Outdoors (CITO) was a combination of my incredible love for outdoor spaces and wanting to share that experience with anyone willing (fostered by my parents and certain educators as I grew up) and the glaringly obvious lack of people who looked like me whenever I was out in those outdoor spaces.”

Kilgour continues “Throughout my life I have found myself in conversations with friends, peers, and strangers alike surrounding whether (insert BIPOC, LGBTQ+. and/or differently abled group here) "did" the "outdoors thing or not. Of course, the answer is a resounding YES, as in fact we DO "do" the "outdoor thing" and have been doing it for generations. The continued challenge is who is/is not presenting the narrative that sets the norm. In this light, I felt it necessary to create a space and organization that could continue to demonstrate that "we are out here doing these things", tell the historical and cultural stories connecting people to the land, teach, foster, and continue to encourage engagement in outdoor activity, stewardship, and issues, and strive to uplift, encourage, and highlight other individuals who were/are doing similar things around the globe (as the groups helps the individual, the individual helps the group).

“I feel it is incredibly necessary to share knowledge and skills with others, regardless of the topic. In this specific conversation, I think that the only way we are genuinely going to "save the planet" is by genuinely being active participants in that process both at an organic/grassroots/individual level as well as at a larger national/global level. With CITO, my goal is to provide a platform that can help create space and knowledge for people to engage in and with outdoor spaces beyond the "field trip" or "one-and-done" model but, instead, start to understand their role in stewardship and community in the outdoors. The focus on connectivity to the land and how we can and do play a role in its survival (and vice versa) is at the core of all the activities and engagements we host and collaborate with but, on an equally important level, making sure that engagement is framed and delivered in an intentional, inclusive, and safe environment focused on marginalized and underrepresented communities.”

Outdoor activities that Christopher and CITO promote and lead include hiking, camping, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, canoeing, kayaking, climbing, spelunking (caving), foraging, outdoor survival training, snorkeling, diving, fishing, hunting, tracking, wilderness first aid, orienteering, sailing, and more.

Cream City Conservation and Consulting
Website: creamcityconservation.org

From the “Our Work” section of the Cream City Conservation website, they believe our youth are not just our future, they are our NOW.

Because of this, we believe in dedicating our work to creating equitable green career pipelines.

Despite consensus from the "green community" that the advancement of our work is dependent on having a diverse representation of voices present, the environmental industry remains racially homogenous. While we have made great progress in terms of gender diversity, we have yet to move the needle on equity and inclusion of people of color.

For over a decade, through partnerships with local and national organizations, we have helped engage thousands of Milwaukee youth and young adults in hands-on service to the land.

From public green space revitalization to privately contracted invasive species removal, watershed management, green infrastructure, and trail work: We are making a difference on the land and in lives..

We believe that because the problem is not one dimensional, the solution must be multifaceted.  We work with fellow environmental and community-based organizations to increase their capacity to understand and navigate conversations around diversity, cultivate inclusive work cultures and identify strategies that promote financial stability, cultural relevance, and sustainability of their organizations.”

From “How We Work” on the website, it says that Cream City Conservation & Consulting works with environmental and community service organizations to address internal cultures and practices that contribute to workforce homogeneity. They also train and employ young adults 15-25 whose social identities are traditionally underrepresented in the environmental industry.

James Edward Mills – The Joy Trip Project
Website: joytripproject.com

James Edward Mills is a contributor to National Geographic Magazine, a Fellow of the Mountain & Wilderness Writing Program of the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, and a recipient of the Paul K. Petzoldt Award for Environmental Education. As a freelance journalist and an independent media producer in a career that spans more than 20 years he specializes in sharing stories about outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving and practices of sustainable living. He has worked in the outdoor industry since 1989 as a guide, outfitter, independent sales representative, writer, and photographer. He is the author of the new book “The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors” and the co-writer/co-producer of the documentary film “An American Ascent” (https://joytripproject.com/about-joy-trip-project/)

Mills says his primary goal “is to engage the general public in discussions about the importance of environmental conservation. I try to provide information and resources that are culturally relevant to all people, especially people of color.”

Currently as a faculty assistant at the University of Wisconsin Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies James Edward Mills teaches a summer course for undergraduate students on diversity, equity and inclusion in outdoor recreation and public land management called Outdoors for All.

“I created the Joy Trip Project to provide myself with a platform to share stories that I wanted to write that were not being published through mainstream news organizations. Much of the work that I do focuses on narratives related to the person of color experience in the outdoors as well as those on the margins of our society,” says Mills.

Mills believes “the outdoors needs to be accessible to everyone. It is not enough to say that public recreation areas are open for anyone to enjoy. We also have to reach out to and directly engage those who are least likely to spend outside and create spaces in which they are made to feel welcome and encouraged to participate. When people are given the opportunity to enjoy something, they can be encouraged to love it. And the things we love we are more likely to protect. Access to the outdoors is critical to health and well-being of all people. Not only can they enjoy physical exercise for the benefit of their bodies, the expression of movement in the outdoors can help to calm and bring peace to a frantic mind.”

Monica White, Ph.D.
Website: monicamariewhite.com

Dr. Monica White is an environmental scholar who, in 2021, was names the Gaylord A. Nelson Distinguished Chair in Integrated Environmental Studies at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she is also an associate professor of environmental justice.

The honor of being named the Gaylord A. Nelson Distinguished Chair in Integrated Environmental Studies recognizes Dr. White’s contributions to the academy including her work to better understand the ways agriculture promotes freedom, health, and a sense of community, especially within Black communities.

Dr. White also authored the book Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement. This seminal work expands the historical narrative of the black freedom struggle to embrace the work, roles, and contributions of southern Black farmers and the organizations they formed. Whereas existing scholarship generally views agriculture as a site of oppression and exploitation of black people, this book reveals agriculture as a site of resistance and provides a historical foundation that adds meaning and context to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice/sovereignty movements in urban spaces like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, and New Orleans.

Dr. White is the first Black woman to earn tenure in both the College of Agricultural Life Sciences (established 1889) and the Nelson Institute (established 1970). Her research investigates Black, Latinx, and Indigenous grassroots organizations that are engaged in the development of sustainable, community-based food systems as a strategy to respond to issues of hunger and food inaccessibility in both contemporary times and the twentieth century.

As the founding director of the Office of Environmental Justice and Engagement (OEJ) at UW-Madison, Dr. White works toward bridging the gap between the university and the broader community by connecting faculty and students to community-based organizations that are working in areas of environmental/food/land justice toward their mutual benefit (http://monicamariewhite.com/bio/).

Outdoor Afro
Website: outdoorafro.org

The Outdoor Afro mission statement states that Outdoor Afro celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature. The network also connects Black people with our lands, water, and wildlife through outdoor education, recreation, and conservation. Some examples of Outdoor Afro’s year-round activities range from fishing, hiking, biking, kayaking, gardening, skiing and more!

Candidly documenting her personal experiences, while shifting and pioneering a new visual representation of Black people in the outdoors, Rue Mapp transformed her kitchen table blog into a national nature business, and movement. Today, she is the founder and CEO of where Black people and nature meet: Outdoor Afro. For more than a decade, the not-for-profit organization has continued to celebrate and inspire Black connections and leadership in nature across the United States. Although Mapp’s work in the outdoor industry may have started in her hometown of Oakland, California, her story, and the creation of Outdoor Afro has since grown to inspire international headlines. (from their website: https://outdoorafro.org/meet-our-founder/)

Outdoor Afro was formed in Oakland, California in 2009 and now has Midwest, Northeast, South and West networks, with Madison, Wisconsin being one of twelve Midwest networks.

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