Freedom Road

"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

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Focus- Hocus Pocus (live '73)

This is an amazing live clip. Keep a close eye on the keyboard player... Dig it!

Friday, July 06, 2007

Brown v. Board of Education, R.I.P.? (part III)

My good pal, T.J. Mertz, over in my old stomping ground of Madison, Wisconsin, is one of the smartest guys around when it comes to education and policy issues. He has written on the recent Supreme Court case over at his blog. You need to scroll through the local educational politics to get to the Supreme Court stuff, but it is worth the effort. T.J. has posted some excellent resources. Check it out and pester him with comments:

T.J. Mertz Education Blog

Urban Culture Project (Kansas City)

I am interested in urban redevelopment that is humane, democratic, environmentally sound, economically feasible for most people, and creative. In this vein, the Urban Culture Project in K.C. is doing some very interesting things. Thanks to my friend Dan Siedell, former Curator of The Sheldon memorial Art Museum here in Lincoln and current Art History professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, for bringing my attention to the UCP. Check it out:

Urban Culture Project (Kansas City,USA)

I'd be interested to hear more about similar organizations and projects aimed at revitalizing urban communities around the country. I'd also like to hear what folks think are the pros and cons of these types of urban redevelopment projects...

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Brown v. Board of Education, R.I.P.? (part II)

More commentary is coming out in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision undermining efforts by local communities to promote diversity in public schools. I will continue to post links that I find interesting...

As usual, the folks at Black Commentator have something to say on the subject that is worth checking out:

"My Letter to Clarence Thomas The Man Who Desecrates the Legacy of Thurgood Marshall," by David Love

"Thanks to the Supreme Court, "Separate But (un)Equal" is Legal Again in Public Schools," by Anthony Asadullah Samad

"Uncle Thomas, Lawn Jockey for the Far Right" (reprint of 1996 Emerge Magazine cover)

Any thoughts?

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Brown v. Board of Education, R.I.P.?

Last week, the newly emboldened conservative majority on the Supreme Court took a mighty whack at the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision by striking down two voluntary integration plans in Louisville, Kentucky, and Seattle, Washington, thereby ruling that race can no longer be used as a factor in public school pupil assignment plans.

Here are two good initial reactions to the decision:

"The Supreme Court Just Took Us Back to the Days of Segregation," Adam Bonino, Daily Kos, posted 6/29/07

NYTimes editorial, "Resegregation Now"