Freedom Road: Trinity United Church

"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.

Buy it here!

Spread the word...

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

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Fact Check: Barack Obama's Church

There has been much controversy surrounding Barack Obama's affiliation with Trinity United Church in Chicago. Past comments by the out-going minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which recently appeared on YouTube, have stirred rancor, leading Obama to publicly repudiate those comments and Wright to leave his symbolic post in Obama's campaign. I don't want to jump into the specifics of Wright's comments here at this time, but do want to offer some broader context on Obama's faith and his Church...

Before I do that, allow me to make a somewhat obvious point: Hopefully, the silver lining in all of this hoo-ha over Rev. Wright and Trinity United is that it should put to rest once and for all the bogus smear that continues to circulate on the internet and in gossip that Obama is a Muslim. Very clearly he is not and has never been Muslim. Ok? Got it? Good. Tell your friends...

Now that that is out of the way, let me go further and write the while Obama is not a Muslim, but a practicing Christian who believes that Jesus is the son of God, if he were Muslim that should be immaterial to his candidacy. Just like belief in Christianity should not be a prerequisite to elected office, in general, a belief in Islam should not rule any citizen out from running for office or serving his or her country in the political sphere.

Anyway, on to the main reason I am hitting this topic this morning...

First, here is Barack's statement yesterday about Wright's comments and his own faith journey:

Barack Obama, "On My Faith and My Church"

Second, here is a nice YouTube by a white minister who also attends and ministers at Trinity. It is significant that she is white considering the belief out there in the media-ether that Trinity is a black-only church. It is not:

Last, here is an EXCELLENT article on Trinity, situating the church within a broader context of race and faith stretching back to the civil rights/Black Power era. I've posted this one previously, but it is well worth another look:

Jason Byassee, "Africentric Church: A visit to Chicago's Trinity UCC"

So, take a little time to look a little deeper into Trinity's faith community. Do some exploring for yourself and I think you will find that on balance, this is a very positive, inclusive and spirit-filled church that situates social justice at the forefront of their theology.

Freedom Road

My Book:

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

Blurbs:

The Archive:

Visitors? (since 12/10/07)

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Fact Check: Barack Obama's Church