Freedom Road: soul

"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 soul. Show all posts

Friday, December 05, 2008

Curtis Mayfield, "People Get Ready"

Curtis Mayfield is one of my absolute favorite musicians... soulful, spiritual, funky and conscious as hell! Here he is performing "People Get Ready." Dig it!

Saturday, September 06, 2008

The Incomparable Bettye Lavette

I love the powerful, soulful, rockin' voice of Bettye LaVette. If you haven't checked her out, do so... she is smokin's hot!

I'll start with an autobiographical tune from her most recent CD, "Before the Money Came":

This is a great live cut, with LaVette doing "Sleep to Dream" & "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got":

And here she is doing "Joy" and "Let Me Down Easy":

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Isaac Hayes Tribute

As I am sure most people know by now, Stax legend, Isaac Hayes, passed away at the age of 65 a few days ago. Here is the NYTimes obituary.

In honor of Hayes, here is a nice live cut of him doing the "Shaft Theme" at Wattstax:

And here is Hayes as "Chef" on Southpark dispensing adult advice to the kids...

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Stax Records relaunches

Most people know about Barry Gordy and the Motown Records hit factory in Detroit, but fewer know about the other great soul label, Stax Records, in Memphis, Tennessee. Stax - a.k.a. "Soulsville U.S.A." - was home to Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Booker T. & the MGs, the Staple Singers, Sam & Dave, Albert King, the Bar-Keys, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, the Rance Allan Group and other great acts. Recently, in conjunction with the label's 50th anniversary, Stax embarked on a massive relaunch, promising a trove of new and old music and various other goodies.

Here is a promotional spot about Stax and the relaunch:

Even better, here is a trailer for the recently aired PBS documentary on Stax.

Here is the Stax 50th Anniversary Site, which has lots of good stuf:
Stax 50th Anniversary Site

Here is the link to the Stax Records museum:
Stax Museum of American Soul Music

And here is one more interesting Stax site:
The Stax Site

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