Freedom Road: Oh, Good Lord, Now What??!!?!?!??!

"The Selma of the North": Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

Between 1958 and 1970, a distinctive movement for racial justice emerged from unique circumstances in Milwaukee. A series of local leaders inspired growing numbers of people to participate in campaigns against employment and housing discrimination, segregated public schools, the membership of public officials in discriminatory organizations, welfare cuts, and police brutality.

The Milwaukee movement culminated in the dramatic—and sometimes violent—1967 open housing campaign. A white Catholic priest, James Groppi, led the NAACP Youth Council and Commandos in a militant struggle that lasted for 200 consecutive nights and provoked the ire of thousands of white residents. After working-class mobs attacked demonstrators, some called Milwaukee “the Selma of the North.” Others believed the housing campaign represented the last stand for a nonviolent, interracial, church-based movement.

Patrick Jones tells a powerful and dramatic story that is important for its insights into civil rights history: the debate over nonviolence and armed self-defense, the meaning of Black Power, the relationship between local and national movements, and the dynamic between southern and northern activism. Jones offers a valuable contribution to movement history in the urban North that also adds a vital piece to the national story.

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Blurbs:

Think you know the full story of the civil rights era? Patrick Jones's masterful study of the movement in Milwaukee will make you think again. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The Selma of the North provides a devastating rebuttal of many of the conventional narratives of the civil rights movement. Here a vibrant nonviolent movement in the de-industrializing Midwest grows into a Black Power movement led by urban youth and a white Catholic priest who use confrontational direct action to lay bare the fissures of racial inequality in the 'liberal' North.
--Jeanne Theoharis, Brooklyn College, editor of Freedom North and Groundwork

A well-researched, well-written, and important history. Based on a rich array of sources, this book enhances our understanding of civil rights activism in the postwar urban North and establishes a useful foundation for the comparison of similar developments elsewhere in the country.
--Joe William Trotter, Jr., Carnegie Mellon University, author of Black Milwaukee

This book fills a serious gap in the literature of the civil rights revolution, joining studies on other cities in laying the groundwork on race and civil rights in the postwar urban North. Jones tells a good story, capturing events that might otherwise be lost to history.
--Arnold R. Hirsch, University of New Orleans, author of Making the Second Ghetto

The Selma of the North is an insightful and invigorating addition to the growing literature on black freedom struggles outside of the South. Jones's important and informative account writes Milwaukee back into the narrative of the civil rights-Black Power era and in the process expands our understanding of postwar America.
--Peniel E. Joseph, Brandeis University, author of Waiting Till the Midnight Hour

The Selma of the North is a riveting new story of the civil rights movement in America, a tale on par with Selma, Birmingham, and Montgomery in its power and importance. Jones's magisterial research and magnetic prose illuminate the untold story of the battle for the urban north in the 1960s, a battle that shows how race has always been the Achilles heel of white progressives. This story transcends easy dichotomies of black and white, North and South, radical and reformist. How did a group called 'the Commandos' define nonviolence? How did a white Catholic priest become a 'Black Power' leader? If this is not a saga for the age of Obama, I don't know what is.
--Timothy B. Tyson, Duke University, author of Radio Free Dixie and Blood Done Sign My Name

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Oh, Good Lord, Now What??!!?!?!??!

Oh, good lord. No one got any kind of advantage in the Democratic primaries on Super-Duper Tuesday. Now what?

Saturday: Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska
Sunday: Maine
Tuesday: Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia

Yo! If you are a Democrat in Nebraska, this Saturday is your chance to have your vote really count... because, let me tell you, it ain't gonna matter in the Fall!

Any ideas about how this thing ends?

4 comments:

AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Extent of student support for Obama called atypical

From the OWH--It appears Omaha native Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, who performed at MoveOn's 2004 tour with Michael Stipe & Bruce Springsteen, campaigned for Obama in Iowa, and is playing a rally show at Slowdown Thursday night, will also be at the Civic Thursday afternoon:

"Oberst, 27, said he's heartened by Obama's campaign.

He will play three or four songs at the candidate's rally Thursday at the Civic Auditorium. He also appeared with Obama, 46, during the Iowa caucuses.

"To me, he represents actual change, not just the lesser of two evils," Oberst said. "A lot of people will talk about his age, his youth as a disadvantage. To me, I see that as one of his advantages."

Oberst on Leno in May, 2005: When the President Talks to God

On the atrocious Craig Furgeson show: Road to Joy
--
And if you're not familiar with Bright Eyes:
First Day of My Life [the recent posting of the Lips' video, Do You Realize?, made me think of this one; the video won an award from GLAAD]

At the Bottom of Everything
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AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 3:55 PM
I'm confident that Obama will do well in the remaining primaries, although Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania might be more of a challenge.

Of course this will drag out and remain fairly close (although Clinton's finances/incoming donations have trailed drastically to Obama's lately), but the eventual fight over Florida's 185 and Michigan's 156 delegates is going to get nasty.

The seating of those states' delegates may ultimately decide the nomination.
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AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 9:19 PM
http://lists.pearljam.com/Roust/rock_around_barack.m4a
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 9:20 PM
lists.pearljam.com/Roust/rock_around_barack.m4a
ReplyDelete
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Freedom Road

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"The Selma of the North": Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Oh, Good Lord, Now What??!!?!?!??!

4 comments: