Freedom Road: The Beatles "White Album" Turns 40...

"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

Monday, November 24, 2008

The Beatles "White Album" Turns 40...

It's the 40th anniversary of The Beatles, "The White Album." NPR had a nice reflection on the album that is worth checking out: When The White Album was released 40 years ago this month, fans were both baffled and awe struck by its sprawling world of sound. It was released as a double LP (almost unheard of at the time) and featured instant classics like "I Will," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Blackbird." But The White Album (its real name is simply The Beatles) was also filled with songs many found hard to digest, like the eight-minute, experimental sound collage "Revolution 9" or the inexplicably surreal "Wild Honey Pie." On this edition of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen talks with Bruce Spizer, author of The Beatles On Apple Records, about the groundbreaking White Album and how it came to be. Listen to the program here.

Here is a similar 40th anniversary reflection on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band": For many fans, hearing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for the first time was a life-changing experience. Prior to its release in June of 1967, most of music being produced was for Top 40, AM radio play and for dance parties. Kids bought 45s and never thought of a collection of songs as a "concept album" or work of art. Bob Boilen has a rememberance.

And another on the "Love" CD that came out a few years ago, which features a remix of various Beatles tunes. "Love" is the soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleiel show of the same name in Las Vegas: A new CD of Beatles music is out and it isn't simply a reissue of the same songs. It's a mashup of sorts. Imagine the guitar solo from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" mixed onto "Lady Madonna." Or tablas from "Tomorrow Never Knows" mixed under the sitar of "Within You Without You." That's what Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles have done. All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen talks with Giles Martin about these stunning new remixes.

Here is program about a box set that collects the American versions of four early Beatles albums: Capitol Records is releasing four early Beatles recordings, never before available on compact disc. The American versions of The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, Help! and Rubber Soul make up a new box set, The Capitol Albums Volume 2. All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen talks with Beatles author Bruce Spizer about the new collection.

What is your favorite Beatles album? Why?

Who is your favorite Beatle? Why?

2 comments:

Patrick JonesNovember 25, 2008 at 12:03 AM
Sometimes my favorite is "Abbey Road," for all its over-ripe musical genius. Sometimes it is "Let It Be," for its stripped down rocking-ness. Sometimes it is the "The White Album," for all its challenging diversity. And sometimes it is "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" together, because I think of them as a pair, sitting at this crucial transitional moment in the history of the band's sound.

George is my favorite Beatle for his spirituality and because he is not Paul or John...
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AnonymousNovember 25, 2008 at 1:30 AM
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Billy Shears
and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!
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"The Selma of the North": Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

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Monday, November 24, 2008

The Beatles "White Album" Turns 40...

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