Freedom Road: Great Theater

"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

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Great Theater

I was fortunate to be born to parents who love theater and who transferred that love to me. Because of them, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to see some fantastic productions around the country over my early years and have continued to catch productions when I can throughout my adulthood. There is something unique and beautiful about theater as an art form, when done well. Drea has not had the same opportunities, but is eager to experience more. So, since we are in NYC, we thought we'd take in some world-class theater. To that end, we went to see two great plays on Broadway yesterday...

In the afternoon, we saw, "August: Osage County," which won the Pulitzer Prize AND a slew (5 total) of Tony Awards, including Best Play and a couple of acting awards. It focuses on a dysfunctional Oklahoma family, brought together by the disappearance of the family patriarch... and believe me, all hell breaks loose! The show has humor in the right places, but is serious and taut underneath. The acting and writing are excellent. The set was also great: a three story house! It was all very Tennessee Williams-y, I thought. Here is what the NYTimes had to say about the play when it first appeared.

As current Nebraska residents, we thought this was the quote of the play: "Michigan is the Midwest. This is the Plains: a state of mind, right, some spiritual affliction, like the blues." Now Drea and I run around saying to each other, "I've got a serious case of 'the Plains.'" (smile)

In the evening we went to see "Passing Strange," a new semi-autobiographical rock musical that focuses on the search for identity and meaning by a young middle-class African American man. The show breaks many of the basic theater conventions: the band is on the stage; The narrator, who also wrote the show, often breaks the plane between audience and performers by addressing the audience directly; the staging is sparse and post-modern, a la "Rent." But it is exuberent and fun and also deep and meaningful. We dug it quite a bit. We also got to meet the cast, including the guy who wrote and starred in the show, afterward. They were all super-cool and down-to-earth, genuinely jazzed to be practicing their art in NYC on Broadway. Here is the NYTimes review. Here is an excellent feature by NPR on the show. And another NPR segment, too.

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

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Great Theater

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