Freedom Road: healthy living

"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

Showing posts with label healthy living. Show all posts

Monday, February 02, 2009

How to Work Out from Home

It's gut-check time... This time of year, in early February, a lot of folks begin to lose sight of their New Year's resolutions, particularly when it comes to exercising. Here is a CLASSIC 3-minute video with some really excellent ideas about how to work out from home...

Thursday, July 10, 2008

A Mighty (Big) Nation

Uhhhh... this graphic speaks for itself. Essentially, a full 1/4 of the entire adult population of the United States can now be categorized as OBESE. Like the environment, this is a problem that is in plain view, that everyone knows about, yet most fail to take the required (dramatic) steps to change it... And the tragedy is that obesity is linked to so many other problems and maladies, on the front end as a cause and on the back end as a result.

(click to enlarge image)

Any thoughts about the heft of our fellow citizens? Any thoughts about how to change this? Is it merely a matter of "personal responsibility"? Or, is it linked to broader social issues?

Monday, June 16, 2008

Buy a Houseplant, Get Healthy!

This from GOOD Magazine:

Unless you live in an organic bubble, chances are that most days you interact with plastics, paper goods, synthetic fibers, and other household items that contain trace amounts of toxins—toxins that, in large enough doses, could kill you, but in small doses might still be causing some damage. But fear not: new research shows that readily available and conveniently decorative plants are natural detoxifiers, scrubbing the air of these potentially harmful poisons.

Here are three commonly found toxins, and the plant species that mollify their effects.

(click image to enlarge)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

What is Your "Walk Score"?

Go to this website, type in your address and see what your "walk score" is. Do you live in a walkable neighborhood? This is the kind of thinking we need to do more of in the U.S. We need to develop strategies to minimize our dependency on cars and oil, encourage healthier lifestyles and build community. Walkable neighborhoods is one way. State-of-the-art public transportation is another. There are many others possibilities, too... but choosing a walkable neighborhood is a good start!

What do you think?

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