Freedom Road: Happy 90th Birthday Nelson Mandela!

"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, July 18, 2008

Happy 90th Birthday Nelson Mandela!

Today is Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday. One of the greatest living freedom fighters in the world, Mandela stands as a living symbol of hope for oppressed and tyrannized people everywhere. Thank you Papa Mandela! Your life example is an inspiration to MILLIONS who are struggling for a more humane and democratic way of being... you have changed the world! We are all blessed by your continued presence here with us.

NPR has produced and posted a really good audio history of Nelson Mandela. Please check it out!

Here is another NPR piece.

Mandela's "pivotal moment."

NPR also has a slew of other excellent programs reflecting on the tenth anniversary of apartheid's demise in South Africa. Again, great stuff. Please check it out!

PRI has an interesting segment on race and reconciliation in South Africa today.

Listen to an interview on Democracy Now! related to Mandela's 90th birthday.

A 1961 news report on South Africa featuring an early interview with Mandela:

Here is the historic BBC news report of Mandela's release from prison in 1990.

A PSA of Mandela speaking of tolerance:

Mandela's 1994 Inaugural Speech:

George Bush making an ass of himself, declarinjg "Mandela's dead":

Mandela has inspired many musicians to create songs in his honor. Take a listen to a few:

Mikey Dread, "Nelson Mandela":

Special AKA, "Nelson Mandela":

New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble, "Nelson Mandela":

Bono, the Edge, David A. Stewart, Abdel Wright, Youssou N'Dour, "Long Walk to Freedom":

Various, "Amandla":

And, of course, Nelson Mandela was not the only Freedom Fighter in South Africa. Not everyone made it through the struggle alive and we should also pause on this special birthday to remember those martyrs. To that end, here is Peter Gabriel singing his classic, "Biko," in honor of Steve Biko, who was imprisoned, tortured and murdered by the racist government of South Africa... all for advocating equality, democracy and justice for black people in his country:

What will each of us do to carry on this struggle? What will each of us do to honor the legacy of Mandela, Biko and all the other Freedom Fighters across the globe? What will YOU do?

Freedom Road

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

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Friday, July 18, 2008

Happy 90th Birthday Nelson Mandela!

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