Freedom Road: bluegrass

"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

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Ralph Stanley Comes Out Strong for Barack Obama!

Bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley has cut a radio ad for Barack Obama that is playing in Virginia. Take a listen. This is great! The Obama folks should get this thing up throughout Appalachia, in VA, WV, NC, TN, OH, KY, PA, etc.

People are really hurting in Appalachia. Christy Hardin Smith, over at Firedoglake, quotes Mudcat Saunders (of all people), saying, "The Democrats don't come here [to rural America] and campaign, because they don't think they can win here. The Republicans don't come here and campaign because they take the votes for granted on cultural issues. What happens is there's no debate over rural America, and who gets hurt? Rural America...." and then goes on to write in her own voice, "What most folks around here want to know is two things: (1) Are you one of us? and (2) Are our issues and concerns important to you? We run on retail politics, and that means shaking hands and looking folks in the eye so they can take your measure. But a good surrogate can work wonders, and that Ralph Stanley ad is brilliant."

And, for good measure, here is WV's largest newspaper's endorsement of Obama!

If you know of any white folks out there that SHOULD be voting for Obama but can't get over the racial chasm, particularly in these battleground states, please send them this advertisement from Dr. Stanley. No one has as much cred among working white families as him...

And, just for the heck of it, here is Dr. Stanley jamming in his heyday with Pete Seeger looking on in awe:

Here's another, just because Stanley is so darn awesome:

I had the great fortune to see Stanley at the Bonnaroo music festival in 2007. He still has it!

Freedom Road

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

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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Ralph Stanley Comes Out Strong for Barack Obama!