Freedom Road: Headin' to Denver...

"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, August 27, 2008

Headin' to Denver...

I am off today for Denver to see Obama deliver his historic acceptance speech at Invesco Field tomorrow night! Because I teach and write about racial justice, I am excited to be a part of this event, which takes place on the 45th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. I am looking forward to checking out all the hoopla surrounding the convention. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post between now and Friday, when I return. Either way, stay tuned...

PS: I thought Hillary's speech was pretty good last night and that she did what she had to do. BUT, did anyone really think she wouldn't? She had to or else she would have been hammered publicly, destroying whatever remains of her career. This way, it appears she is on board, while, in fact, she and and Bill and their surrogates continue to act half-hearted toward the Obama/Biden ticket in more localized settings. It is clear that the Clinton people have continued to subtly and not so subtly undermine Obama's campaign. For an incomplete round-up of some of the ways they've done this, read Maureen Dowd's column in the NYTimes today.

Also, there is a lot of buzz that the Clintons were "offended" that Obama did not allow them to consult and have a say in his VP choice. That is the height of arrogance and entitlement.

Question: Do you think, if Clinton had won the nomination, that they would have invited Obama in to consult and have a say in choosing her VP? Hell no. Of course not...

Question: Do you think if Obama had lost and he and his people were acting like 5-year old, as many Clintonistas apparently are, that he would be getting the time of day and respect that is being extended to the Clinton whiners? Absolutely not. He'd be hammered over and over again about not being a team player.

And now there are reports swirling that Bill is leaving town after his star turn this evening and will not attend Obama's acceptance speech tomorrow evening. If true, talk about an ego-centric child...

So, I guess I don't fully buy the performance last night in a broader context. Maybe I'm just hopelessly biased against the Clintons at this point for all the lame stuff they've pulled in this campaign season, putting self-interest miles above party interest or national interest.

I am glad Hillary did the right thing last night, but the seeds of division she and Bill and their campaign sowed many months ago will not be vanquished in one speech. This problem will live on in the subterranean reaches of the election and just might be one of the things that prevents Obama from achieving the presidency, and thereby delivers the White House to McSame and the Rethugs for another miserable 4-8 years. Remember this...

Freedom Road

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

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Headin' to Denver...

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