Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
imprisoned by his erstwhile master but later broken out by mobs from Ripon, Milwaukee,
and southeastern Wisconsin. The state Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional.
After the Civil War, the African American population increased, and most chose to
live in rural, agricultural settings. Large-scale African American migration to Milwaukee,
Racine, and Kenosha took place after World War II, as northern factories revved up for
the Korean War and, later, the Cold War. Today, the vast majority of Wisconsin's nearly
300,000, or 80 percent of, African Americans (around 6 percent of the state total) live in
these urbanized southeastern counties. The black population is one of the fastest growing,
increasing by 25 percent per decade.
Latinos
Wisconsin's Latino population has doubled in the last two censuses.
Puerto Ricans
began
arrivinginMilwaukeeafterWorldWarIIasblue-collarlaborers.
Mexicans
representoneof
the more recent immigration waves, many ofthem having arrived inthe mid-1960s, though
Mexican immigrants have been in the state since as far back as 1850. Mexicans today live
mostly in southeastern Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Madison, and, especially, Racine.
Asians
Wisconsin has upward of 77,000 residents of Asian descent, about 2 percent of the pop-
ulation. One of the fastest-growing elements,
Laotian Hmong,
began arriving during the
Vietnam Warandsettled mostly inAppleton, GreenBay,theFoxRiver Valley,Manitowoc,
Eau Claire, La Crosse, and pockets in southeastern Wisconsin. The state also has substan-
tial
Chinese
and
Korean
populations.
Art Museums and Galleries
The smashing addition to the
Milwaukee Art Museum
by Santiago Calatrava has drawn
mediaattentionfromaroundtheworld,yetdon'toverlookthemuseum'sphenomenalhold-
ings. Milwaukee otherwise is rated in the top 5 percent for cultural attractions per popula-
tion in the United States.
Madison has so many museums that one nickname for downtown is “Museum Mile,” of
which the
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
and UW's
Chazen Art Museum
will
be superb art aficionado bookends.
One would be amazed by how much art is outside the two population centers. Essential
art attractions are the
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum
in Wausau, with astonishing or-
