Historical Black Milwaukee (1950 to 2022): The People, Events, and Institutions that Shaped It

By Dr. Michael Bonds

In Historical Black Milwaukee (1950-2022), the author illustrates how an African American community grew over time and the people, events, and institutions that shaped Black Milwaukee. He also shows the contributions that African Americans made to the City of Milwaukee's growth and its history. Bonds provides a detailed discussion on historical Black Milwaukee. He shows how a small Black population of 21,772 (3.41%) out of Milwaukee's population of 637,392 in 1950 grew to become the second-largest racial group in Milwaukee with a total population of 223.962 (38.8%), based on the City of Milwaukee's 2021 estimated population of 577,222.

The author discusses the people (community leaders, Black elected officials at every level of government, and Black professionals in the public, private, and criminal justice sectors) who shaped historical Black Milwaukee. Moreover, he provides a detailed discussion of various institutions (Black businesses, schools, religion, media outlets (newspaper, radio stations, televisions, etc.), social service agencies, and more that shaped historical Black Milwaukee.

And the book reveals the role of Black cultural institutions (museums, art galleries, bookstores, nightclubs, sports leagues, etc.), cultural events (festivals, art shows, and more), Black neighborhoods, and public landmarks (streets, buildings, murals, parks, etc.) named after Blacks who contributed to the growth of its community and the City of Milwaukee's history.

This book discusses the challenges and opportunities that led to the integration of the Black population into the City of Milwaukee.

Historical Black Milwaukee will become a book that can be updated regularly and can provide a one-stop reference book on Black Milwaukee for the period of 1950-2022. The book also discusses lessons learn from historical Black Milwaukee and their implications for other Black communities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886854206

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Historical Black Milwaukee (1950 to 2022)

The People, Events, and Institutions that Shaped It

Dr. Michael Bonds

ISBN 979-8-88685-419-0 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89043-461-6 (hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-88685-420-6 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Dr. Michael Bonds

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Community Leaders and Black Protest Efforts (Non–Police Related)

African American Elected and Appointed Officials

Criminal Justice System

Black Professionals

Social Services Organizations

Black Businesses

Media

Education

Cultural Activities and Social Life

Neighborhoods

Religion

Public Landmarks, Streets, and Buildings

Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author

Chapter 1

Introduction

The origin for authoring this book, Historical Black Milwaukee: The People, Events, and Institutions that Shaped It. (1950–2022), is based on my experience as an African American in Milwaukee's central city during the late 1950s to the present (2022). Also, I wrote this book in part to understand the people, events, and institutions that shaped Black Milwaukee during this period. Moreover, the book also serves as a reflection of the experience of thousands of African Americans in Milwaukee between 1950 and 2022.

I attended Black schools in the Milwaukee Public Schools System from kindergarten until my twelfth-grade graduation in the 1960s through the mid-1970s. As a student, I was never exposed to the people, institutions, and events that shaped Black Milwaukee. I was not taught the role that Black Milwaukeeans played in the development of Black Milwaukee and the city of Milwaukee.

As I attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM), I was shocked at the lack of research and materials on Black Milwaukee. While working on my master's degree and PhD, I looked for research material on Black Milwaukee only to find it scarce and outdated. This experience motivated me to write this book to make such materials available to other researchers.

As a full-time college professor, I published numerous academic articles about a wide range of public policies (education, welfare, housing, politics, business, etc.). There was limited current information on Black Milwaukeeans, its institutions, and the events that shaped it. Most information was outdated from the 1980s and early 1990s.

As a parent of two sons, I was challenged to teach them about their heritage in Milwaukee. While teaching them about Black history and the role of African Americans nationally, the information on Black Milwaukee was not available. I found it a challenge to teach them about the people, events, and institutions which shaped Black Milwaukee because of the dearth of information on it.

In addition, as a school board member for the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) System from 2007 to 2018, I was surprised that out of 160 school buildings in MPS, less than five were named in honor of Black Milwaukeeans when I first came on MPS Board in 2007.

Likewise, as a school board member, one responsibility was to review textbooks in a variety of subject matters (history, language arts, etc.) annually. I was always disappointed at how those textbooks had little to no discussion of the people, institutions, and events that shaped Black Milwaukee.

Finally, the impetus for this book grew out of many discussions with my wife, a career educator, and a history major. As we would drive through the city of Milwaukee, we would notice that there were few streets, buildings, landmarks, or other cultural symbols related to Black Milwaukeeans. And the few that were available, there were seldom stories behind the names.

My experiences occurred in the context of several events. Over these seven decades, the Black community increased in population size. Thousands of African Americans came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from Southern states (Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, etc.) and other states in search of better job opportunities and a better quality of life in the late 1940s and beyond. Also, there was an enormous growth in the Black population because of its high birth rates (Collins, 2011; Geib, 1993; Harpole and Weare, 1996; Schmid, 2019; Trotter, 1985, 2007; Washington, 2000). The city's African American population grew at a phenomenal rate between the period 1950 and 2011, rising from 20,545 (3.21%) in 1950 to 232,654 (39.3%) in 2011, an increase of 1,032 % (American Factfinder, 2013). By July 2017, African Americans accounted for 41.5% of the city's total population (United States Bureau of Census, 1952, 2019). By 2022, African Americans accounted for 38,8% of the city population.

This book examines the trajectories of African Americans' experiences in Milwaukee from 1950–2022 in the context of several events. During this period, Milwaukee Blacks were fighting for racial equality. They fought to end racial discrimination in employment, education, housing, and public accommodation (Aukofer, 1968, 2007; Dahlk, 2010; Jones, 2009; Rosen, 1998; Stolee, 1985; Taylor, 1981).

Also, major federal legislation and legal decisions to advance racial equality for Blacks and other minorities were approved. These included the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing). In addition, the United States Congress created the Community Action Program (CAP), Education and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Head Start, Model Cities, and more. The United States Supreme Court ruled in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas that separate and equal facilities were unconstitutional, thus banning racial discrimination in education and other areas (Bell, 2004; 1980; Braun, 2001; Browne-Marshall, 2013; Johnson, 2000).

This book will trace the development of Black Milwaukee from 1950 to 2022 through the people, events, and institutions that shaped it. Moreover, this book provides an excellent and comprehensive source of historical data on a variety of topics on Milwaukee's African American community from 1950 to 2022 that can be updated on an annual basis. It will provide a detailed discussion of the people, events, and institutions that shaped Black Milwaukee during 1950–2022.

The book will focus on the following issues: religion, media, social service agencies, demographics, housing, education, businesses, neighborhoods, politics, labor, medical, and so forth as they relate to Milwaukee's Blacks during this study period.

Section One

African American Trailblazers that Shaped Black Milwaukee

This book is divided into fourteen chapters and three sections. Chapter 1 introduces the book, the rationale for it, and its outline. It provides an overview of African Americans' population trends in Milwaukee. It discussed African American' population trends between 1950 and 2022.

Chapter 2 provides a historical overview of African American community leaders (nonelected officials) and protest efforts. I begin the chapter with a discussion and background information on who were the Black leaders in Milwaukee during a period when no Blacks had been elected to public offices. I continue to discuss community leaders from 1950 to 2022 who were nonelected officials and their roles in the Black community. Next, I discuss the various protests efforts (non–police killings) that Black Milwaukeeans undertook to improve their quality of life. These protest efforts include marches, riots, business boycotts, and other techniques to improve their quality of life (employment, justice, etc.) during this study period.

Chapter 3 focuses on African American elected officials at all levels in Milwaukee. The chapter provides a historical overview of every African American elected official at each level of government in Milwaukee since 1950. I discuss all African Americans who was elected to Milwaukee Common Council, mayor of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County Board of Supervisor, Milwaukee County executive, Wisconsin Assembly, Wisconsin Senate, and the US Congress, and more. The chapter examines the history of family politics in Milwaukee's Black community.

Chapter 4 provides a historical overview of Black professionals in the Criminal Justice System. The chapter starts with a historical discussion of Blacks on the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission (FPC), African American chairperson of the FPC, and its African American members. The chapter discusses the historical experience of Blacks on Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) from the first Black police officer on it and the first Black to serve in the capacity of chief of MPD, while listing historical trends of African Americans employed by the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) by positions. I discuss African Americans' legal challenges to racial discrimination in the Milwaukee Police Department, and the outcomes of those lawsuits.

I provide a historical overview of African Americans employed by Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD) before examining historical information on African Americans employed by the Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD) by positions from its first Black firefighter to present and their legal challenges to racial discrimination.

The chapter explores African Americans' experience with the courts. It focuses on the African Americans elected to and appointed to Milwaukee Municipal Court, Milwaukee County Circuit Courts, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The discussion identifies the first African American judges in the history of Milwaukee and Wisconsin to the current judges. The chapter concludes with a discussion of other key African American professionals in Milwaukee County Criminal Justice System. These includes Milwaukee County sheriffs, court commissioners, and so forth.

Chapter 5 focuses on Black professionals. It provides historical information on the number and types of Black professionals in Milwaukee by sectors. It lists information on Black professionals associated with key institutions in Milwaukee, including colleges, universities, health, financial institutions, labor, major corporations, and private businesses.

Section Two

African American Institutions that Shaped Black Milwaukee

Chapter 6 explores the African American controlled social service agencies, and those that served Milwaukee's Black community between 1950 and 2022. It discussed some of the city's longest severing Black community service agencies and their histories. It tells the stories behind these agencies and their leaders. The chapter also explains the agencies' challenges to survive in Milwaukee.

Chapter 7 explores the variety of businesses that African Americans operated in Milwaukee between 1950 and 2022. I start off with a discussion of small businesses that African Americans operated in Bronzeville in the 1950s to more diverse businesses by 2022. Included in this discussion is the history of major Black restaurants, construction companies, funeral homes, childcare providers, car dealerships, and other firms. The chapter also discussed owners of these businesses.

Chapter 8 explores both African American and mainstream media institutions and Blacks associated with them. The chapter provides a history of all Black-owned newspapers, Black-owned radio stations, Black-owned television stations, and so forth in Milwaukee. It discusses the key African Americans associated with these media outlets. The chapter provides information on the key African Americans that worked for the major White-owned newspapers and White-owned television stations during this study period. The chapter ends with a discussion of Black-owned magazines and other Black-owned media outlets and the African Americans associated with them.

Chapter 9 discusses Blacks' education options in Milwaukee from 1950 to 2022. It reviews the historical trends of Blacks attending public schools (Milwaukee public schools and suburban schools) and private schools (both privately funded and publicly funded). These include public-funded school options (Milwaukee Public Schools, Chapter 220 Program, Open Enrollment Program, and charter schools). Similarly, I discuss private schools that were funded privately and those supported by public funds. The chapter concludes with a discussion of key African Americans in Milwaukee's education sectors.

Section Three

African American Culture in Milwaukee

Chapter 10 examines the cultural and social life for Black Milwaukeeans during this study period. It lists major cultural events (street festivals, cultural festivals, performance arts, plays, etc.) and cultural institutions (museums, historical society, bookstores, movie theaters, art galleries, etc.) in Milwaukee's Black community, their histories, and key African Americans associated with them. It discussed major Black artists, musicians, and entertainers in Black Milwaukee. The chapter further explores the social life (bars, taverns, clubs, recreation, sports outlets, etc.) available to Milwaukee's African Americans and the people associated with them.

Chapter 11 explores the variety of neighborhoods that African Americans lived between 1950 and 2022. I describe these neighborhoods, their histories, and major African American institutions and other institutions associated with them.

Chapter 12 focuses on religion. It includes an overview of historical religious institutions in Milwaukee's Black community and their leaders. The book discusses the key churches and other religious organizations in Milwaukee's Black community. The chapter ends with a discussion of the expanding role of Milwaukee's African Americans religious organizations.

Chapter 13 lists key landmarks named after Milwaukee's African Americans. These landmarks include buildings, parks, streets, museum displays, statues, etc. I tell the stories behind these landmarks.

Chapter 14 is the book conclusion. It provides a summary of the book while highlighting the outlook for African Americans in Milwaukee.

Chapter 2

Community Leaders and Black Protest Efforts (Non–Police Related)

To improve their social, economic, and political conditions in Milwaukee, African Americans participated in numerous protest movements during this study period. Since Blacks in Milwaukee had not elected anyone to public office since 1906, several individuals emerged as community leaders. Clarence Johnson and Cleopatra Johnson were some of Milwaukee's early Black nonelected leaders. They owned several businesses, including the Ideal Tailoring shop that opened in 1921. Clarence Johnson was also one of Columbia Savings and Loans' founders in 1925, the first Black-owned financial institution in Wisconsin. He was one of the Booker T. Washington Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) founders in Milwaukee that served its Black community. They both served on numerous civic boards and committees that improved Milwaukee's Black neighborhood (Geenen, 2006; Trotter 1985, 2007).

Wilbur Halyard and Ardie Halyard were early leaders in Milwaukee's Black community. Wilbur Halyard was one of the founders of Columbia Savings and Loan in Milwaukee in 1924. They started Columbia Savings and Loans Company in 1924 to help African Americans in Milwaukee purchase homes. Ardie also helped form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Chapter. Ardie Halyard worked for the bank, and she was active in the NAACP in Milwaukee. She would become president of the bank after her husband died. Ardie Halyard also served as the first female president of the Milwaukee National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (Geenen, 2006; McBride, 2005; Trotter, 1985, 2007).

J. Anthony Josey was another one of the early Black leaders in Milwaukee during this book period. In 1945, Josey was elected the first mayor of Black Milwaukee, a symbolism vote among African Americans. Bronzeville. was the racially segregated section of the city where most of Milwaukee's Blacks lived. African American organizations conducted the mayor of Black Milwaukee election. In the election for the mayor of Black Milwaukee, Josey received 5,260 votes compared to his opponents, Sanford Carter (2,216 votes), Helen Reid (2,066 votes), and Lawrence Miller (1,020 votes). As mayor of Black Milwaukee, Josey served as the official greeter, spokesperson, and leader of Blacks' social affairs in Bronzeville (McBride and Byers, 2007–2008). Josey was also the owner of several Black newspapers in Milwaukee. These included the Enterprise Blaze. Josey served on many committees that dealt with interracial issues in Milwaukee. Josey died in 1957 at 81 (McBride and Byers, 2007–2008; Trotter, 1985, 2007).

Attorney James W. Dorsey was another leader in Milwaukee's Black community during this study period. He was born in Fort Missoula, Montana. He earned his bachelor of science degree from the University of Montana in 1922. Dorsey later received a law degree from Montana University. He moved to Milwaukee in 1928. Dorsey was the first Black in Milwaukee to win an alderman district primary election. He won aldermanic district nominations three times (1936, 1940, and 1944), but he never won the general elections (Milwaukee Legislative Reference Bureau, 1977, Trotter, 1985, 2007). Dorsey also served as president of the Milwaukee's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Milwaukee during this study period. As NAACP president, Dorsey led Milwaukee's first Civil Rights Movement protest in 1941 when he marched with seven hundred African Americans in Milwaukee from Seventh and Walnut to Lake Drive to protest racial discriminatory hiring practices in the defense-related factories in Milwaukee. In 1964, after thirty years of practicing law, he became Milwaukee's first African American court commissioner. Dorsey died in a fire in 1966 trying to save his daughter (Sarah Scott Middle School, 1999).

Also, Bernice Copeland Lindsay was an early community leader in Milwaukee's Black community. She was born in Winchester, Indiana, and she moved to Milwaukee in 1928. Lindsay was the executive secretary of the Northside Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) from 1928 to 1949. She was the first African American executive director of Milwaukee's YWCA. In 1933, Lindsay organized the Mary Church Terrell Social Club. Lindsay was also an original member of the Milwaukee Commission on Human Rights, formed in 1944. In 1957, she was appointed to the Wisconsin governor's Council on Human Rights. In 1963, she founded the Creative Center, an art, culture, and education agency. In 1967, Milwaukee named a street in her honor (Baehr, 1995). And a housing development project between North Seventeenth Street and North Twentieth Street known as Lindsay Heights was named in her honor (Geenen, 2006).

Attorney Theodore Coggs was another early Black leader in Milwaukee starting in the 1950s. He received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served on various civic boards and committees dealing with issues impacting Milwaukee's Black community. Coggs served on the Committee on Police-Community Relations for the Mayor's Study Committee on Social Problems in the Inner City. It produced the Zeidler Report that discussed issues impacting Milwaukee's Black community (Mayor's Study Committee, 1960).

Pauline Coggs was another Black nonelected official in Milwaukee's Black community from the 1940s. She was a social worker, and she also served as a program director for the Milwaukee Urban League. Besides, she worked with many community organizations that sought to improve Milwaukee's Black community (Geenen, 2006).

Cecil Fisher was another African American leader during this period. Fisher was pastor of St. Mark AME Church from 1927 to 1931. Fisher was the Milwaukee's first Black welfare caseworker and chairperson of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM). He was also a former president of Milwaukee's NAACP. And he was very active in housing issues in Milwaukee's Black community (Encyclopedia of Milwaukee, 2017; Fure-Slocum, 2013).

1960s protest against White business

African American Calvin Sherard led some of the earliest protest movements in Milwaukee's Black community. Sherard was an automobile worker for American Motors Corporation (later Chrysler Automotive) in Milwaukee. In 1961, Sherard established a local chapter of the Negro American Labor Council (NALC). This group was part of the national affiliate led by A. Philip Randolph, a civil rights leader. The NALC picketed businesses that refused to hire Blacks or hired few African Americans in Milwaukee (Dahlk, 2010; Jones 2009). In 1962, the NALC protested A&P Grocery Stores in Milwaukee for its refusal to hire more Blacks. NALC claimed that A&P only employed a few African Americans despite having several stores in Milwaukee's Black community. Sherard left Milwaukee in the 1960s. He was discontent with Milwaukee Blacks' progress and its leadership (Dahlk, 2010; Jones 2009).

1963 protest against Fred Lins

Another Black protest movement occurred in Milwaukee on August 28, 1963, in a sit-in at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Milwaukee's Blacks protested a statement by White businessperson Fred Lins, a Milwaukee County's appointee on the newly created Community Relations–Social Development Commission (CR-SDC), Milwaukee County's antipoverty agency. CR-SDC (known as SDC) dealt with poverty and racial issues. Lins made some derogatory comments about Milwaukee's Blacks and their IQ. Lins stated that SDC should try to find a solution to prevent the ignorant poor from migrating to Milwaukee. And Negroes look so much alike that you cannot identify the ones that committed the crime…an awful mess of them having an IQ of nothing (Braun, 2001, p. 30). Members of the Black community protested Lin's comments, and they called for his removal from the SDC Board. The sit-in was followed by several protests and a brief occupation of Mayor Maier's Office. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), founded in 1963, helped to lead sit-ins and marches protesting Fred Lins's comments. The protests ended weeks later when Lins resigned from the SDC Board (Aukofer, 1968, 2007; Braun, 2001; Byers, 2004, Gruberg, 1996; Jones, 2009; Witt, 2007).

Eagle Club protest, 1966

In 1966, Father James Groppi and Milwaukee Blacks boycotted the all-White Eagle's Club located in downtown Milwaukee to protest its racial discrimination policies and practices. Blacks were not able to attend or join the Eagle's Club. Its White owners argued that a private club, and its members could decide to associate with people they choose to. Many prominent White business leaders and political leaders in Milwaukee had memberships in the Eagle's Club. In 1966, seventeen Milwaukee County Circuit and Milwaukee County judges, ten of twenty-four Milwaukee County supervisors, the Milwaukee County district attorney, the Milwaukee County treasurer, the city's comptroller, the city clerk, the executive secretary of the Election Commission, Wisconsin governor Warren Knowles, United States congressman Clement J. Zablocki, and Congressman Henry R. Reuss were members of the all-White Eagle Club (Aukofer, 1968, 2007; Gruberg, 1996; Jones, 2009).

In addition, Father James Groppi and hundreds of African Americans marched from the downtown Milwaukee's Eagle Club to an adjacent White suburban community, Wauwatosa, to protest liberal White judge Robert Cannon, who had a membership in the Eagle's Club. A fight broke out between the Black protesters and the White suburbanites in Wauwatosa (Aukofer, 1968, 2007; Gruberg, 1996; Jones, 2009).

The battle to integrate the Eagle's Club went on for several years. In 1970, Wisconsin attorney general Bronson Lafollette threatened to end the Eagle Club's tax-exempt status if it did not end its racial ban. Finally, in 1980, the Eagle's Club officially opened its doors to a few African Americans, mainly Black politicians in Milwaukee (Aukofer, 1968, 2007; Gruberg, 1996; Jones, 2009).

1969 welfare benefit cuts—protest

In 1969, the Inner-City Development Project and the Milwaukee Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO) led protest marches throughout Metropolitan Milwaukee against the Wisconsin government's welfare benefits cuts. Over five hundred people participated in these marches. The marchers protested downtown businesses and urged those companies to close their businesses as a form of protest against the welfare benefit cuts. The protesters also held protest marches at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, Brookfield Square Shopping Mall, and Mayfair Shopping Mall (Braun, 2001).

Alderman Michael McGee Sr. black militia protest (1990s)

African American Alderman Michael McGee Sr. organized a Black militia group in the early spring of 1990. He threatened to lead his followers in a series of terror attacks in Milwaukee if the power structure did not take drastic actions to deal with the extreme poverty, unemployment, and other social ills facing the City's Blacks. Furthermore, Alderman McGee Sr. threatened to disrupt the city's annual summer circus parade and shoot commuters on Milwaukee's freeways. He also threatened to terrorize fans at Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball games if the city and state refused to finance a $100 million emergency job program for Milwaukee's inner city. Alderman Michael McGee Sr. did not follow through on these threats. And the $100 million in aid was never provided (Coleman, 1997). However, as part of his protest, Alderman Michael McGee Sr. claimed that a militant group had poisoned sausage made by Milwaukee's Usinger's Sausage Company. This threat resulted in the recall of 80,000 pounds of bratwursts and sausages from local stores. The meat was destroyed. There was never any proof that the meat had been poisoned (Hoelscher, Zimmerman, and Bawden, 1997).

Several Black community activists opposed McGee's call for violence to solve the African American community's problems. Queen Hyler and Ruth Vernado led a protest at Milwaukee's City Hall against Michael McGee's call for violent uprising in Milwaukee. They were joined by other people who opposed McGee. They blew whistles at Alderman McGee Sr. Some African Americans felt his call for violence was counterproductive to solving Milwaukee's Black community's issues. And they were concerned that Alderman McGee could be sending out the wrong message about violence to Milwaukee's Black youths (Coleman, 1997; Kroll, 1990).

Renaming North Third Street—Dr. Martin Luther King Drive (1990)

In 1990, Alderman Michael McGee Sr. led a protest march to rename the entire North Third Street after Dr. Martin Luther King. In Milwaukee, part of North Third Street had been named for Dr. Martin Luther King, a national Civil Rights Movement leader. However, as Third Street proceeded south toward downtown Milwaukee, it was called Old Ward Third Street. McGee unsuccessfully led a protest march to change all of Third Street to Dr. Martin Luther King Drive (Hoelscher, Zimmerman and Bawden, 1997). In 2021, the City of Milwaukee finally extended Dr. Martin Luther King Drive Jr. to downtown Milwaukee. It renamed Old World Third Street from Mckinley Avenue to Wisconsin Avenue as Dr. Martin Luther King Drive Jr. (Dirr, 2021).

Beauty Island Protest (1995)

In 1995, Michael McGee Sr., a former alderperson for Milwaukee's Common Council and a radio talk host, also led a boycott of Beauty Island, a Korean-owned beauty supply store at 5241 West Fondulac Avenue. Blacks protested the store for its adverse treatment of African Americans. Its employees beat a Black pregnant woman, who came to the assistance of a relative who was falsely accused of stealing. This protest lasted for several weeks, but to no avail (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1995). Beauty Island Store remained open in 2022.

2013 killings of several African American protests

Blacks protested the killing of thirteen-year-old African American Darius Simmons, who was killed in front of his mother by an elderly White man, John Spooner. Spooner accused Simmons of breaking into his house. Hundreds of Black Milwaukeeans participated in this protest at the Federal Court House in downtown Milwaukee. Spooner was found guilty of killing Simmons. Key speakers for the event included African Americans Sherwin Hughes, WNOV Radio Host, Alderwoman Milele Coggs, and others (Jones, 2013).

Original Black Panthers protests

In recent years a new group, the Original Black Panthers, has come into existence, and it has led major protests on issues related to Milwaukee's African Americans. In 2015, King Rick (Darryl Farmer) reestablished and led the Original Black Panthers. The Original Black Panthers protested businesses in Milwaukee's Black community that sold specific cigarettes and other products harmful to African Americans. They protested in front of businesses or government agencies when their concerns were not addressed. The Original Black Panthers protested companies where African American employees were mistreated. The Original Black Panthers have also protested at Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett's house in response to lead in water pipes that can cause poison. Moreover, the Original Black Panthers have protested at schools where African American students have been mistreated or schools showed racial insensitivity. The Original Black Panthers had a chant, No Justice, No Peace. The Original Black Panthers were also involved in neighborhood clean-ups, annual Mother's day giveaway for mothers of people killed in Milwaukee, coat giveaway, and other community activities (Casey, 2018; Dennis, 2017; Deprey, 2019; Newman, 2019).

Chapter 3

African American Elected and Appointed Officials

Introduction: pre-1950

African Americans have a long history of being involved in electoral politics in Milwaukee. In 1835, Joe Oliver was the first Black person to vote in a Milwaukee election. It would be more than thirty years before the next Black person voted in Milwaukee. In 1849, a Wisconsin referendum on Negro Suffrage produced mixed results. It passed, but Blacks were still denied the right to vote because the language in the 1849 Referendum was not clear and it was not enforced. In 1865, African American Ezekiel Gillespie, a railroad porter and community leader, sued the Milwaukee election commissioners for the right to vote. In 1866, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the 1849 Wisconsin Referendum had in fact granted Blacks in Milwaukee the right to vote. Blacks have voted since then in Wisconsin (Gurda, 2007).

While Blacks voted in Milwaukee, they had difficulty electing African Americans to public offices in the city's first one hundred years because of their small population size. Lucian Palmer was one exception. He was born into slavery and he later moved to Milwaukee in 1878. Palmer worked various jobs such as food catering, real estate, and insurance. In 1906, he became the first African American to win a public elected office in Milwaukee's history. Palmer won a seat to the Wisconsin State Assembly. Palmer's victory was a surprise because of a case of mistaken identity. Voters confused him with a conservative White politician also named Lucian Palmer. After Palmer's victory in 1906, Blacks would not win another election in Milwaukee until the 1940s (Gurda, 2007; Burnside, 1993b; Trotter, 1985, 2007).

Between the election of Palmer in 1906 through the 1940s, numerous Blacks in Milwaukee ran unsuccessfully for public offices. In the 1930s, Blacks in Milwaukee became regular contenders for elected public offices. Before Attorney Vel Phillips's 1956 Milwaukee Common Council victory, only one African American, Attorney James Dorsey, in Milwaukee's history had come close to winning an aldermanic district seat. He came close several times in the Common Council races in 1936, 1940 and 1944. But he lost to the