As a supplement to the various projects we have pursued, the following historical essays by Paul Rykken (and accompanying documents) provide further insights into various aspects of our community’s history. Note the year of the project that correlates with the paper.
Article: “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” Jackson County Interprets Bleeding Kansas
2010 Project Connection: The article shows how the Kansas crisis of the 1850s shaped political consciousness in places like Jackson County, Wisconsin, linking local citizens to the national struggle over slavery and sharpening their criticism of Buchanan’s leadership. It concludes that “Bleeding Kansas” became a crucial prelude to the Civil War, revealing the fragility of the Union and raising the stakes for ordinary Americans.
Article: “Spaulding’s Funeral” (Wisconsin Magazine of History, Autumn 2021)
2011 Project Connection: Jacob Spaulding’s funeral account not only highlights the deep respect he earned from the Black River Falls community but also recalls his early relationships with the Ho‑Chunk, who knew him as one of the first white settlers to live and trade among them during a period of profound upheaval. The article suggests that Spaulding’s legacy in the region was shaped as much by these early cross‑cultural interactions as by his later civic leadership, making his death a moment of remembrance for a founder whose life intersected with the displacement and resilience of the area’s Native people.
Document: Letter from Jake Spaulding to President Grant, 1873
2011 Project Connection: This letter from Jacob Spaulding to President Ulysses S. Grant conveys Spaulding’s alarm over the escalating tensions surrounding the 1873–74 Ho‑Chunk removal and his plea for decisive federal action to prevent violence. It reveals Spaulding’s role as a local intermediary trying to balance settler pressure with the human costs of forced removal, while appealing directly to the highest level of government for clarity and intervention.
Yep Ging Profile: The Chinese Laundryman
2013 Project Connection: Yep Ging’s story traces the remarkable journey of a Chinese immigrant who arrived in Black River Falls in the 1890s and built a long‑standing laundry business while navigating the racial barriers and exclusions of the era. The article shows how his work, friendships, and cultural presence made him an enduring and quietly influential figure in the community, offering a rare glimpse into Chinese immigrant life in small‑town Wisconsin at the turn of the twentieth century.
Billy Krause Profile: The German Baker on Armistice Day
2014 Project Connection: Billy Krause’s story intertwines a moment of wartime xenophobia in Black River Falls—when he was publicly humiliated on Armistice Day—with the quieter truth of his life as a respected, generous immigrant who spent decades serving his community. His experience reflects both the fear-driven tensions that gripped Wisconsin during World War I and the more enduring legacy of a man remembered fondly by friends and neighbors.
Article and Documents: FDR and World Crisis (2007)
2002 Project Connection: The project is a classroom lesson built around FDR’s February 23, 1942 “Map Speech,” using the Fireside Chat to help students analyze wartime geography, presidential communication, and the emotional climate of early World War II. It provides historical context, primary‑source work, and structured activities that deepen understanding of how Roosevelt educated and reassured the nation during a moment of crisis.
Lesson Plan and Documents: Ike, McCarthy, and the Election of 1952
2004 Project Connection: The lesson examines Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1952 campaign trip to Wisconsin and his controversial decision not to publicly defend General George C. Marshall from Senator Joseph McCarthy’s accusations. Through primary documents, debate, and writing, students explore the political pressures of the Red Scare and the broader implications of McCarthyism for national and Wisconsin history.
Article: Red Cloud and the Power of Memory (2021 Revision)
2007 Project Connection: Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud Jr.’s story blends a vivid personal biography with an exploration of how communities construct and sustain public memory. The article traces Red Cloud’s life—from his Ho‑Chunk heritage and World War II service to his heroic death in Korea—and shows how his legacy has been honored through ceremonies, memorials, and evolving interpretations across cultures. It ultimately argues that Red Cloud’s memory reveals the layered, sometimes competing meanings of heroism, identity, and remembrance within Black River Falls and the Ho‑Chunk Nation.
