On April 4, 1945, Governor Walter S. Goodland appointed eighteen persons to serve as members of a non-statutory body called the Governor's Commission on Human Rights. With no budget or staff--and with little visible public support--this group adopted a policy which said, “We dedicate all our energies to the elimination of all discriminatory practices; we propose to sustain with vigor the free exercise of human rights by all people everywhere.”
Two years later, through legislative action initiated by Senator Fred E. Risser of Madison, the Commission was established by statute (Chapter 292, Laws of 1947). According to Section 15.85, Wisconsin Statutes:
There is created the Governor's Commission on Human Rights to consist of not to exceed 35 members who shall be appointed by the governor for terms of 3 years each without the advice or consent of the senate. Members shall be appointed from the entire state and shall be representative of all races, creeds, groups, organizations and fields of endeavor. They shall receive no compensation for their services. It shall be the duty of the commission to disseminate information and to attempt by means of discussion as well as other proper means to educate the people of the state to a greater understanding, appreciation and practice of tolerance, to the end that Wisconsin will be a better place in which to live.
In July 1949, the Commission appointed its first director, Rebecca C. Barton. Mrs. Barton, who had begun as an unpaid consultant to the Commission, continued for fifteen years as its director, retiring on July 5, 1963. Hers was the pioneering effort which so largely determined the nature and activity of the Commission. As former Governor Walter J. Kohler said of her in 1955: “Without her genuine devotion to this cause, her quick sympathy, wise counsel, and deepening understanding, the Governor's Commission on Human Rights would have died a-borning.” Also, in 1949, not without a struggle, but with the strong support of many state-wide organizations, the Commission received its first appropriation--fifteen thousand dollars.
With as many as thirty-five members, the bi-partisan Commission took advantage of its size and representative character to implement its work. Aside from attending meetings, Commissioners represented the cause of human rights in their own communities. They, along with members of the Commission staff, made as many as 300 speeches a year. They appeared on radio and television and were used as resource persons in the academic community.
The Commission worked to secure equal opportunity and fair treatment for all citizens in motels, restaurants, barbershops, taverns, or in any place where accommodations, amusements, goods, or services were available. The Commission had no regulatory powers. Using the methods of negotiation and
persuasion, it annually handled some fifty cases involving the denial of rights or community tensions and problems. Through education, including such things as resort surveys and widespread circulation of the Denial of Rights Statute (942.04), the Commission was often able to achieve voluntary compliance with the law, promote understanding, and modify discriminatory or thoughtless behavior.
In its twenty-two years of existence, the Commission published well over a million words in frequent reports, brochures, and studies. The Commission conducted research and disseminated information on the many areas of concern having to do with human rights including information on minority groups such as African Americans, Native Americans, migrants and Hispanic residents, “non-white housing”, racial imbalance in the Milwaukee public schools, as well as other subjects. Thus, the Commission office became a center of information to which other agencies and concerned citizens might turn.
To promote inter-agency cooperation within state government and to cooperate with private groups concerned with human rights, staff members and Commissioners represented the Commission on the Governor's Committee on Migratory Labor, the Governor's Committee on Children and Youth, the Wisconsin Legislative Council's Menominee Indian Study Committee, the Governor's Committee on Services to Minority Groups, the Governor's Task Force on Poverty, etc. For liaison purposes, the Commission was also represented in a number of private agencies such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Wisconsin Civil Liberties Union, the Milwaukee Coordinating Committee on Human Rights, and the Milwaukee Joint Housing Committee. In research projects, the Commission cooperated with various departments of the University, both in Madison and Milwaukee. It also worked directly with the Division for Children and Youth of the State Department of Public Welfare, the Industrial Commission, especially its Fair Employment Practices Division, the Department of Public Instruction, etc. in activities such as conferences, newsletters, and common mailings.
The Commission was represented at many conferences at the local, state, regional, and national levels. The Commission itself sponsored two Governor's Conferences on Human Rights. Other conferences were devoted to the handling of controversial issues, to the training of human relations commissioners, to meeting the needs of migrant workers, and other topics. In addition, the Commission made a policy of holding regional meetings in different areas of the state, providing speakers and programs for a wide variety of civic, religious, and educational organizations.
The 1967 Reorganization Act transferred the Commission to the Equal Rights Division of the Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations. Former members of the Commission became members of an Equal Rights Council to serve in an advisory capacity to the Division and to the heads of the Department.
