Discover Madison’s Disability History with the Center for Campus History and Go Big Read 

Blog written by: Jewell Petrowitz, Go Big Read Student Assistant

The Center for Campus History (CCH) provides UW-Madison and the larger Madison community opportunities to learn about and engage with the University’s past. Through curating exhibitions, giving presentations, and hosting events, the Center for Campus History complicates our understanding of the University. The Center’s research highlights histories and narratives at UW that are under- or mis-represented. The CCH has extensively researched and compiled resources on a range of UW-Madison’s histories, based on the idea that “history can – and should – be used to move us forward” (UW Center for Campus History). With this as the guiding principle, the CCH has produced a wide variation of research projects on many sensitive histories at UW-Madison. For instance, The Center has brought to light the presence of the Ku Klux Klan at UW-Madison and in the Madison Community. The CCH also has compiled research on the history of protest and resistance at UW-Madison, including Feminist Protest & Organizing, the Black Power Movement, and the Anti-War Movement. Additionally, the CCH reported on the Eugenics Movement on campus and in the state of Wisconsin, which directly ties into the 2024-2025 Go Big Read book is Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig. 

The Center for Campus History is a co-sponsor for the Chancellor’s Go Big Read program. The objectives of both organizations are aligned, with the majority focus being on generating vigorous discussions and learning from diverse perspectives. The 2024-2025 Go Big Read book is Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig. So, this year, Go Big Read has partnered with the Center for Campus History to create a teaching guide on disability. 

In addition to the insight and knowledge that the Go Big Read provides for the campus community, the Center for Campus History also has a backlog of research surrounding disability at UW-Madison. The aforementioned Eugenics Movement on campus and in the state of Wisconsin, which was inherently ableist in its assumption that some genes are more desirable than others. The Center for Campus History website also details past instances of discrimination and exclusion at UW-Madison, citing the lack of accessibility on campus as the reason that some Badgers do not feel like they belong. This fight to make campus accessible for all Badgers is nothing new. Brigid McGuire, a UW law student and wheelchair user, practiced acts of civil disobedience and protest to raise awareness about inaccessibility on campus. The Center for Campus History enriches UW-Madison’s historical narrative by doing extensive research and providing resources for the community. 

The Center for Campus History’s website also has a Sifting and Reckoning section titled “Disability in the Classroom”. This section covers the history of Disability on UW-Madison’s campus and the founding of the McBurney Disability Resource Center in 1977. It details the history of accessibility in UW building and the long, hard fight for accommodations on campus. Dated photographs and quotes from prominent figures in these histories enrich the lessons in this module. This section provides us with the means to fearlessly sift and winnow through Madison’s disability past by providing well-researched resources.