Freedom Road: Labor Day (pt. II)

"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, September 03, 2007

Labor Day (pt. II) - 5 Myths About Work

In honor of Labor Day, History News Network has a nice brief piece on "Top 5 Myths About Work." Here are the myths they take on:

Myth 1: The Work Ethic Is Dead
Myth 2: Workers Are Often Lazy Because Unions Protect Them
Myth 3: The Forty-Hour Work Week Is Sacrosanct in American Tradition
Myth 4: Immigrants Always Worked Hard
Myth 5: Parks Are for Relaxation After a Hard Day at Work

To read what they have to say about these myths, click here:
HNN: Top Five Myths About Work

What do you think about work in America today? What is your opinion of unions and organized labor?

3 comments:

theMatchFactorySeptember 4, 2007 at 9:56 PM
I'm almost finished with Naomi Klein's No Logo where she details the rise of anti-corporate activism as corporate America closes in on choice, space & jobs. What it means when jobs go off shore, export processing zones & the growth of temps as unions are increasingly squashed before they can get off the ground.

Exellent OnPoint that has Robert Reich discussing Supercapitalism that brings us dirt cheap blue jeans, falling wages & no job security, amongst other things.

My work ethic isn't dead. But that's because my job doesn't feel like work most of the time.

Most people I know work around 60 hours a week or more, but doing something they enjoy.

And workers are lazy because that's what corporations need to strive. A lazy, bored & tired populace that have no idea what it means to be a citizen.
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Patrick JonesSeptember 12, 2007 at 12:58 PM
Yeah, that citizenship thing is crucial. The info-tainment state allows us the chimera that we are engaged and active... cause we are surfing the web... but, in fact, American civic engagement is severely atrophied and this works to the status quo's advantage. They would like nothing more than a pacified citizenry, just like they prefer a pacified market place where a few huge multi-national corporations dominate. I have long thought that a "democracy" movement" is necessary in the U.S. before any other serious reform is possible...
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theMatchFactorySeptember 13, 2007 at 2:51 PM
Oh, also, that poster is sweet.
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Freedom Road

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

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Monday, September 03, 2007

Labor Day (pt. II) - 5 Myths About Work

3 comments: