Hip-hop’s historical connection to social justice has allowed it to be used as a tool to empower the black community to speak out about racism in America.
United States
How the “Capitol Crawl” Galvanized Congress Into Passing a Landmark Civil Rights Bill
Sometimes, the fight for civil rights is an 83-step process. Such was the case for disability rights activists in March of 1990, when delays in Congressional action on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) were stalling the overdue passage of a landmark bill to protect individuals with visible and invisible disabilities.
Reclaiming What is Theirs – How Native Activism in Milwaukee during the 1970s resulted in Land Back and Community Growth
While many efforts to maintain treaty rights proved unsuccessful, the 1971 protests by Native activists in Milwaukee were a rare example of Native protests that resulted in Indigenous gain.
An overview of the Mifflin Street Block Party: A political statement.
I know plenty of people who plan to spend their Saturday drinking the day away between Dayton St and W Washington Ave. Yet many of the students who will be spending their day at Madison’s largest annual “darty” are unaware that the event started as a political protest.
Ready, Willing, and Able to Fight – How Judy Heumann Advanced the Disability Rights Movement
For the last three decades, millions of American parents have been able to park their minivans between parallel white lines – avoiding the spaces with the blue and white logos that depict a stick figure in a wheelchair – and usher their child into a stroller, which they can push up a portion of the curb gradually sloped from the asphalt up to the sidewalk, before guiding the stroller up a concrete ramp and through an entrance wide enough to fit it.
William Proxmire
Wisconsin’s Class I senate seat has been filled with history in the last century… Yet between McCarthy and Herb Kohl, the man who lends his namesake to the Kohl Center here at UW, the seat was held by William Proxmire, a man who played a leading role in the anti-genocide movement in America.
Sit-Ins to Stand Up
The 1960s in the U.S. are often characterized by the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and, of course, the Civil Rights Movement. The early ‘60s were a time when Jim Crow laws were still around and people all across the nation were protesting in various ways.
The Truly American Environmentalist Movement
The modern Environmentalist movement has seen a flurry of activity following the “Code Red” announcement of the UN report on climate change in August. Hosting protests and calls to action now 365 days a year, Environmentalism has grown in means and in might since its conception as but a single day of national awareness: Earth Day 1970.
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is revered today for her work as a poet, writer, actress, dancer, and activist. She was a woman of many talents and her wisdom lives on through her many works of art, most notably, her autobiographies. Angelou was born in 1928 in St. Louis, MO and had a traumatic childhood.
Vietnam War Protests at UW-Madison
The Vietnam War, fought between 1955-1975, drew attention across the U.S. It was one of the most highly protested wars in history, especially at UW-Madison. A notable protest at UW occurred in April of 1965 with faculty teaching over 1,500 students about the conflict outside of an academic building.