Freedom Road: Obama "Cultists" in Nebraska "Drank the Kool-Aid"?

"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

Friday, March 28, 2008

Obama "Cultists" in Nebraska "Drank the Kool-Aid"?

Not too long ago, our state went 2-1 for Obama over Hillary in our first-ever Democratic caucus. Shortly thereafter, bitter Hillary Clinton surrogates began to claim that people like us must have "drank the Kool-Aid" because we were like "Obama cultists" in our enthusiastic support of the junior senator from Illinois. How could we dumb hayseeds possibly resist the inevitable pull of 35 years of experience and entitlement!!!???!! At first I was angry about what sounded to me like arrogance and condescension emanating from the Clinton camp, but then I got to thinking that Hillary and her crew might, in fact, be on to something, at least in Nebraska...

That's right, you may not realize this important cultural fact, but Kool-Aid was invented in Hastings, Nebraska, and is our state's official soft drink! Yes, Kool-Aid is a Nebraska creation... so it is entirely plausible that a whole slew of Obama supporters out here just might have actually drank Kool-Aid before caucusing.

Over at the Hastings Museum, they have this to say about our favorite drink (I've added some classic video spots for your viewing pleasure, as well):

Remember that TV ad? Well, Kool-Aid® got its start right here in Hastings, Nebraska. This internationally known soft-drink mix, now owned by Kraft Foods, actually started out as a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack.

1950s Kool-Aid ad:

Edwin Perkins was always fascinated by chemistry and enjoyed inventing things. When his family moved to southwest Nebraska at the turn of the century, young Perkins experimented with home-made concoctions in his mother's kitchen. Edwin's father opened up a General Store in Hendley, Nebraska. It was in the store that Edwin became entranced with a new dessert mix introduced by a childhood friend (and future wife) Kitty Shoemaker. The powdered dessert came in six delicious flavors and was called Jell-O®. Edwin convinced his father to carry the dessert line in his store. It was at this same time Edwin sent away for a kit called "How to Become a Manufacturer." During the following years, Perkins graduated from high school, published a weekly newspaper, did job printing, served as postmaster and set up a mail order business called "Perkins Products Co" to market the numerous products he had invented.

Make Friends with Kool-Aid! (w/ Bugs Bunny - 1967)

In 1918, Perkins married his childhood sweetheart, Kitty, and developed a remedy to kick the tobacco habit called "Nix-O-Tine." By 1920, the demand for this and other products was so great, Perkins and his wife moved to Hastings, which had better rail service for shipping purposes. Another product that was proving to be popular was a concentrated drink mix called Fruit Smack. Fruit Smack, like Jell-O®, came in six delicious flavors. The four-ounce bottle made enough for a family to enjoy at an affordable price. However, shipping the bottles proved to be costly and breakage was becoming a problem as well. In 1927, Perkins developed a method of removing the liquid from Fruit Smack so the remaining powder could be re-packaged in envelopes (which Perkins designed and printed) under a new name to be called Kool-Ade. (He later changed the spelling to Kool-Aid.)

Classic Kool-Aid ad (1970s)

The product, which sold for 10¢ a packet, was first sold to wholesale grocery, candy and other suitable markets by mail order in six flavors; strawberry, cherry, lemon-lime, grape, orange and raspberry. In 1929, Kool-Aid® was distributed nation-wide to grocery stores by food brokers. It was a family project to package and ship the popular soft drink mix around the country.

By 1931, the demand for Kool-Aid® was so strong, other items were dropped so Perkins could concentrate solely on Kool-Aid®. He moved the entire production to Chicago for more efficient distribution, to be closer to supplies and to be able to expand even further if necessary.

During the Great Depression, Perkins cut the price in half to just 5¢ a packet, a "luxury" most families could afford. Young entrepreneurs sprung up across the country setting up Kool-Aid® stands. While most of the profits were consumed by the youngsters, it was something most children enjoyed. Perkins introduced off-shoots of Kool-Aid® including pie fillings and ice cream mixes. These products never really took off with the public. During World War II, fruit acid and dextrose rationing prevented any expansion. After the war, the demand for Kool-Aid® was so great that Perkins had to expand the factory and by 1950, 300 production workers produced nearly a million packets of Kool-Aid® each day.

Dane Cook on "Not So Kool-Aid"

In 1953, Perkins announced to his staff that he was selling Kool-Aid® to General Foods. Within a year, the popular Smiling Face Pitcher was introduced in print advertisements. Root Beer and Lemonade flavors were added to the original six flavors in 1955 and pre-sweetened Kool-Aid® was developed in 1964 and redeveloped in 1970. Kraft Foods acquired General Foods and became the new owners of Kool-Aid®. They refined the Kool-Aid® pitcher into Kool-Aid® Man and introduced new Kool-Pumps and Kool Bursts to the market. Kool-Aid® continues to be a popular product with roots in Hastings. It is the official soft drink of Nebraska.

Edwin and Kitty Perkins never forgot their Nebraska ties and returned home often. The Perkins Foundation has been instrumental in many projects in and around Hastings including gifts to Hastings College, Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital, Good Samaritan Retirement Village and the Hastings Museum and Lied Super Screen Theatre. Edwin passed away in 1961 and Kitty followed 16 years later. Both are buried in Hastings.

Jim Jones and the People's Temple, the Most Infamous Kool-Aid Lovers Ever:

The Hastings Museum houses an impressive Kool-Aid® collection as part of the Kool-Aid: Discover the Dream exhibit, including the original Kool-Aid® Man costume worn in the television commercials. Hastings College has another collection on display in the Perkins Library on campus.