Fair housing march, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 1966 (James Groppi, center). We’re recapping the top 12 most-liked and most-reblogged photos we posted in 2012. #11 was one of the dramatic images of Civil Rights activists selected by guest curator Mark Speltz, who provided an overview of Milwaukee’s Civil Rights movement for us in January 2012.   When we posted this photo last January, a reader asked if we could identify the other people marching with Groppi. Activist Margaret Rozga (wife of Father Groppi), who still lives in Milwaukee, identified several: “Unfortunately most of the people on the picture have died. The woman on the left is Carol Butler, the tallest person is Duane Tolliver. The person in the sunglasses behind Carol Butler may be Forthune Humphrey. The woman behind the two Youth Council men on the right (with her right hand up at her forehead) is Vada Harris.” In 2007, Rozga published an article about the “March on Milwaukee” in the Wisconsin Magazine of History. via: Wisconsin Historical Images WHi-25167 by way of March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project, UW-Milwaukee Libraries
View Separately

Fair housing march, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 1966 (James Groppi, center).

We’re recapping the top 12 most-liked and most-reblogged photos we posted in 2012. #11 was one of the dramatic images of Civil Rights activists selected by guest curator Mark Speltz, who provided an overview of Milwaukee’s Civil Rights movement for us in January 2012.  

When we posted this photo last January, a reader asked if we could identify the other people marching with Groppi. Activist Margaret Rozga (wife of Father Groppi), who still lives in Milwaukee, identified several: “Unfortunately most of the people on the picture have died. The woman on the left is Carol Butler, the tallest person is Duane Tolliver. The person in the sunglasses behind Carol Butler may be Forthune Humphrey. The woman behind the two Youth Council men on the right (with her right hand up at her forehead) is Vada Harris.”

In 2007, Rozga published an article about the “March on Milwaukee” in the Wisconsin Magazine of History.

via: Wisconsin Historical Images WHi-25167 by way of March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project, UW-Milwaukee Libraries

Source: wisconsinhistory.org

Fair housing demonstration, Milwaukee, 1967. Well-known protest photographer Ben Fernandez came to Milwaukee on assignment, like many other photographers, as national news outlets took notice of the civil rights struggle unfolding in the urban north. Fernandez published this photo in his 1968 book, IN OPPOSITION: IMAGES OF AMERICAN DISSENT IN THE SIXTIES. via: The March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries Thanks to historian Mark Speltz for curating this week’s blog. To find out more about the civil rights movement in Milwaukee, explore UW-Milwaukee’s March on Milwaukee digital collection or search for “civil rights” on the Wisconsin Heritage Online portal.
View Separately

Fair housing demonstration, Milwaukee, 1967.

Well-known protest photographer Ben Fernandez came to Milwaukee on assignment, like many other photographers, as national news outlets took notice of the civil rights struggle unfolding in the urban north. Fernandez published this photo in his 1968 book, IN OPPOSITION: IMAGES OF AMERICAN DISSENT IN THE SIXTIES.

via: The March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries

Thanks to historian Mark Speltz for curating this week’s blog. To find out more about the civil rights movement in Milwaukee, explore UW-Milwaukee’s March on Milwaukee digital collection or search for “civil rights” on the Wisconsin Heritage Online portal.

Alderwoman Vel Phillips visits St. Boniface Church, Milwaukee, 1967. Alderwoman Vel Phillips first introduced open housing legislation in 1962. After five years of casting the sole vote in favor, she and the NAACP Youth Council joined forces and took to the streets to call attention to the dramatic need for open housing. via: Milwaukee Public Library
Pop-upView Separately

Alderwoman Vel Phillips visits St. Boniface Church, Milwaukee, 1967.

Alderwoman Vel Phillips first introduced open housing legislation in 1962. After five years of casting the sole vote in favor, she and the NAACP Youth Council joined forces and took to the streets to call attention to the dramatic need for open housing.

via: Milwaukee Public Library

Watch: News film clip of fair housing march, likely the night of August 29, 1967 (silent)

This eerie silent news clip captures the tense and edgy atmosphere as civil rights marchers made their way through the Milwaukee’s south side in late August 1967. From the opening scene featuring lines of heavily-armed police officers to a clip of a marcher praying with a rosary, footage like this was recorded and broadcast by WTMJ-TV for weeks on the evening news.

via: The March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries

read more: Margaret Rozga, “March on Milwaukee,” Wisconsin Magazine of History vol. 90, no. 4 (2007)

NAACP Youth Council member Forthune Humphrey Jr. mops room, Milwaukee, 1966. A close reading of this December 1966 photograph of a Youth Council member cleaning the group’s Freedom House reveals a bulletin board covered with news articles and photographs from the summer’s dramatic marches in Wauwatosa. The activists learned their confrontational tactics, and the reactions they elicited, attracted heavy press coverage and used it as a tactic in future demonstrations. via: Milwaukee Public Library
Pop-upView Separately

NAACP Youth Council member Forthune Humphrey Jr. mops room, Milwaukee, 1966.

A close reading of this December 1966 photograph of a Youth Council member cleaning the group’s Freedom House reveals a bulletin board covered with news articles and photographs from the summer’s dramatic marches in Wauwatosa. The activists learned their confrontational tactics, and the reactions they elicited, attracted heavy press coverage and used it as a tactic in future demonstrations.

via: Milwaukee Public Library

Fair housing march, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 1966 (James Groppi, center). This well-known Milwaukee civil rights movement photograph features young members of the NAACP Youth Council and their advisor, Father James Groppi, proudly carrying the American flag. This march took place in Wauwatosa on August 28, 1966, exactly one year before the explosive open housing demonstrations began.  via: Wisconsin Historical Images WHi-25167, Wisconsin Historical Society read more: Erica L. Metcalfe, “Future Political Actors: The Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council’s Early Fight for Identity,” Wisconsin Magazine of History vol. 95, no. 1 (2011)  This week’s blog is curated by Mark Speltz, who began exploring the photographic record of Milwaukee’s civil rights movement as a graduate student in public history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In the five years since he has interviewed participants, politicians, and photographers and remains ever hopeful new photographs and stories will come forth. He works as a senior historian at American Girl and lives in Madison. 
View Separately

Fair housing march, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 1966 (James Groppi, center).

This well-known Milwaukee civil rights movement photograph features young members of the NAACP Youth Council and their advisor, Father James Groppi, proudly carrying the American flag. This march took place in Wauwatosa on August 28, 1966, exactly one year before the explosive open housing demonstrations began. 

via: Wisconsin Historical Images WHi-25167, Wisconsin Historical Society

read more: Erica L. Metcalfe, “Future Political Actors: The Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council’s Early Fight for Identity,” Wisconsin Magazine of History vol. 95, no. 1 (2011) 

This week’s blog is curated by Mark Speltz, who began exploring the photographic record of Milwaukee’s civil rights movement as a graduate student in public history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In the five years since he has interviewed participants, politicians, and photographers and remains ever hopeful new photographs and stories will come forth. He works as a senior historian at American Girl and lives in Madison. 

Top