‘We the People’ Tells Milwaukee Immigrant Stories

The exhibit is “our way of contributing to the broader American narrative by talking about the role of immigrants to Milwaukee,” says Milwaukee County Historical Society’s Ben Barbera.

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Milwaukee History

In 2022, a naturalization ceremony was held at the Milwaukee County Historical Society. Witnessing the event encouraged the society’s executive director, Ben Barbera, to act on an idea he’d entertained for several years—an exhibition in the society’s Beaux Art building at Pere Marquette Park telling Milwaukee’s immigrant story.

Make that stories within the story. The concept finally comes to fruition, just in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, as “We the People: Milwaukee Stories of Immigration, Citizenship, and Community.” The exhibit is “our way of contributing to the broader American narrative by talking about the role of immigrants to Milwaukee,” Barbera says.

 “We the People” is contextualized within the acknowledgment that Indigenous people lived in the area thousands of years before anyone else and is arranged according to the great waves of immigration since the 1840s. The Germans were followed by Poles, Irish, Mexicans … as well as the internal Great Migration bringing Southern Blacks to Milwaukee for war industry jobs during World War II.

Hmongs, Afghans and Rohingyas are among more recently arrived groups represented in “We the People.”  

Oral History

The expected archival research was incorporated into the larger project of an extensive oral history of Milwaukee immigrants, some of it audible as clips on touch panels through “We the People.” “For the more modern stories we used community partnerships in the largest collaboration we’ve ever done,” says curator Janean Van Beckum.

The society provided partner organizations such as Mexican Fiesta and the Hmong American Peace Academy with a list of questions for respondents including childhood memories, first impressions of America and why or how they came here. “We didn’t want to tell other people’s stories and would rather have them tell it if they can,” continues Van Beckum.

The full responses will be archived and available on the society’s website. Visitors to the exhibit will hear short excerpts in clips from wall panels and the Dining Table, a touchscreen installation intended as a “virtual community conversation” on food, family traditions and cultural identity. Van Beckum speaks of the “common thread” connecting many of those clips. “It’s important for people to remember that we’re more alike than different.” Our alikeness takes diverse cultural forms.

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Key episodes from America’s immigration story are noted on text panels, including the 1924 Immigration Act, which severely restricted immigration from most continents, and the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which abolished those ethnic quotas.

Barbera hopes “We the People” will encourage “empathy and curiosity” from visitors as they explore the ethnic fabric of Milwaukee (and the nation). “We’re bringing the story up to date in this moment, which is why we included oral accounts of people’s lived experiences,” he says. “My hope is to make people aware that we’re all part of the immigrant story.” Visitors are encouraged to leave their thoughts on the exhibit’s Wish Wall.

“We the People: Milwaukee Stories of Immigration, Citizenship, and Community” opens June 12 at the Milwaukee County Historical Society, 910 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. For more information, visit https://milwaukeehistory.net/