Autumn 2008 Issue
Volume 92, Number 1
Featured Story
 Ivy Williamson.
The Wisconsin Badger Football Games Against Louisiana State in 1957 and 1958 by Richard Carlton Haney
In early July 1956, the Louisiana House of Representatives voted 71-0 for a bill sponsored by Representative H. Lawrence Gibbs to "outlaw social events and athletic contests including both Negroes and whites." Shortly after, the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department issued a statement saying, "We regret that the reported action by the State of Louisiana will apparently make it impossible for us to play Louisiana State University," which included the scheduled 1957 and 1958 football match-ups between the LSU Tigers and the UW Badgers. Although Wisconsin was not the only team to cancel sporting events against LSU, it was the first team to do so, and by its response to the Louisiana ban on integrated sports competition, the UW's action was among the many harbingers of the broad-based civil rights movement that would permanently transform American society.
Ivy Williamson became athletic director at UW - Madison in 1955. He made the decision to cancel the 1957 and 1958 games against Louisiana State when their discriminatory action became Louisiana law. Image courtesy University of Wisconsin Archives.
Table of Contents
"Dying Like Rotten Sheepe:" Camp Randall as a Prisoner of War Facility During the Civil War
by Tommy Thompson
For a brief time during the Civil War, Camp Randall, originally a troop training center, was converted to a prison camp for Confederate soldiers. Conditions at the camp were reportedly not as bad as they were at the more well-known Camp Douglass in Chicago, Illinois. Despite that fact, all prisoners of Camp Randall were eventually sent down to Chicago after their short stay in Wisconsin. Because of its relatively minor role, less has been written about Camp Randall by historians than about other prison camps. However, captive soldiers there, as in all Civil War camps, endured illness, boredom, feelings of resentment, a desire for release, and death.
IMAGE ESSAY
More to it Than Meets the Eye: Odd Wisconsin Exhibit Presents Unique Objects with Fascinating Stories
by Joe Kapler
Too often a cultural object or work of art must be a masterpiece or an original one-of-a-kind to be considered a "museum treasure." But even an item that appears ordinary or commonplace may have an unusual or unexpected story in its history. The Odd Wisconsin exhibit opens in October 2008 at the Wisconsin Historical Museum.
Way Past Deadline: The Women's Fight to Integrate the Milwaukee Press Club
by Kimberly Wilmot Voss and Lance Speere
In the 1960s, women journalists fought for equal opportunities and recognition within their profession. One such fight was to obtain membership to the oldest continuously run press club in the country. It wasn't until the 1970s that the Milwaukee Press Club finally allowed women to become members.
Cancelled Due to Racism: The Wisconsin Badger Football Games Against Louisiana State in 1957 and 1958
by Richard Carlton Haney
In 1956, Governor Earl Long of Louisiana passed legislation that segregated both players and fans in the state's sports competitions. As a result, the 1957 and 1958 football match-ups between the Wisconsin Badgers and the LSU Tigers were cancelled by UW Athletic Director Ivan Williamson in opposition to the new law.
BOOK EXCERPT
Fill 'er Up: The Glory Days of Wisconsin Gas Stations
by Jim Draeger and Mark Speltz
Hundreds of single-purpose gas stations, defined by familiar and personal service, once dotted the Wisconsin landscape. Few have survived the change in transportation needs, leaving only a handful of historic stations in Wisconsin.
BOOK EXCERPT
Odd Wisconsin: Amusing, Perplexing, and Unlikely Stories from Wisconsin's Past
by Erika Janik
Wisconsin's past is full of crazy characters, bizarre events, and surprising incidents that somehow didn't make the official account of state history — and yet the state would not be the same without them.
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