Milwaukee Segregation 1950s-Today

Housing Segregation in Milwaukee: 1950s & 1960s Discriminatory laws & lending practices (pre-1960s) Most African Americans lived in a single neighborhood: North and Northwest of downtown 90% of subdivisions: Laid out with covenants (rules) No sale of property to people of color Informal agreements with realtors, lenders, & landlords Not illegal until 1968 Most cities were similar

Tried to Move... Landlords refused to rent to them Suddenly rented to someone else Rent would be higher than advertised Banks refused to lend them money “White flight” to the suburbs post Fair Housing Act 1960: 660,000 white residents 2000: 298,000 white residents Left = less tax $ = less $ for schools, housing, etc. QUESTION #1

Revision: 1962 Alderwoman Vel Phillips Introduced to Milwaukee Common Council 1st ordinance to reverse housing discrimination Defeated 18:1 (her’s was the “1”); similar votes 3Xs over 6 yrs 1967 & ‘68 Milwaukee’s NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Youth Council demand fair housing law Picketed alders Marched for 200 nights After Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination Congress passed national Fair Housing Act April 20, 1968 Milwaukee passes ordinance Vel Phillips Clip QUESTION #2

March Across 16th Street Bridge Menominee River industrial district (south of I-94) separated the African American neighborhood on the north from the white neighborhoods of South Milwaukee 16th St. Bridge connects 2 neighborhoods August 29, 1967 Father Groppi led 250 protesters over bridge Protesting segregation & demand fair housing laws 13,000 white residents met them at the south end Carrying clubs, hurling bottles, shouting racial slurs, profanities Police with tear gas Returned to find NAACP Freedom House burned down No weapons or shooters found Believed that police caused it Housing March QUESTIONS #3 & 4

Housing Groppi Clip QUESTION #5 & 6 Map of Milwaukee’s Black Neighborhood, 1940 Race Restrictive Covenants: Mr. George Brawley, a Milwaukee attorney, has recently completed a study of the race restrictive covenants contained in plats filed with the Register of Deeds office of Milwaukee County. He estimates that 90% of subdivisions which have been platted in the City of Milwaukee since 1910 contain some type of covenant which has the effect of prohibiting the sale of the property to Negroes. He states that in other parts of the city there are “gentlemen’s agreements” not to sell or rent property to Negroes except within the area bounded by W. North, W Juneau, N. 3rd, and N. 12th Streets.

School Segregation in Milwaukee: 1960s After 1954 Brown v. Board decision = racial segregation illegal (question #7) 1960 Milwaukee survey found 90% of central city school students were Black March 1964 attorney Lloyd Barbee, Vel Phillips, & Father Groppi organize Milwaukee United School Integration Committee (MUSIC) May 1964 MUSIC organizes boycott of predominantly (mostly) Black schools 60% of Milwaukee’s Black inner-city students participated (11k) 8500 attended the Freedom Schools (free alternative school set up during boycotts) Also picketing, demonstrations, and other direct actions QUESTION #8 & 9

Reactions Parent reaction: Upset by big differences between majority Black vs. majority White schools “Intact busing” - transporting African American students to all-white schools but still in segregated classes, cafeterias, activities Tracked into vocational classes instead of business or college prep 1965 Barbee filed lawsuit charging School Board w/practicing discrimination 14 years (including in the US Supreme Court) 1979 ruled in his favor

Young People Make a Difference Milwaukee’s NAACP Youth Council Local action while 1960s lunch counter sit-in were going on in the South Campaigned against job discrimination at Marc’s Big Boy restaurants Protested all-white Eagles Club Demonstrated to support fair housing laws Father James Groppi became their advisor 1965 Formed a security unit: Youth Council Commandos Protect marchers (QUESTION #10 & 11) Created separate social service agencies (till the 1980s) 1965 Bus Boycott Mary Arms oral history (QUESTION # 12)

Busing in Milwaukee Public Schools since 1979 Desegregation plan: Redistricting Creating specialty (“magnet”) schools Busing Most who chose integrated, speciality schools were White 80% bused OUT of their neighborhoods were Black 1987 court ruled that suburban districts had to participate Thousands of urban Black student were bused to suburban schools Late 1990s - abandoned Charter schools “School choice” Vouchers (use tax dollars for private school tuition Again, largely segregated Busing Video QUESTION #13 & 14

Segregation in Milwaukee Today 50 yrs ago Mississippi was considered the most segregated place in the US Today: Milwaukee, WI Different conditions, though... 1964 Mississippi: government sponsored segregation was enforced Laws, economics, public opinion Races were separated African American had much lower standards of living Challenge the “system” = violence

De Facto Segregation Milwaukee today: De Facto Segregation Laws LEGALLY prohibit racial segregation in housing, jobs, schools Live in segregated communities Black neighborhoods have much higher poverty rates than white ones Created and maintained by ideas versus law It’s still fact even if laws do not cause it

MAP 2: poverty neighborhood map https://demographics.virgin ia.edu/DotMap/index.html MAP 2: poverty neighborhood map QUESTION #15