Freedom Walkers for Milwaukee

AIN'T GOING TO LET NOBODY TURN ME AROUND TURN ME AROUND TURN ME AROUND YOU KNOW, PEOPLE LOOK AT YOU AND YOU SEE THE HATE IN THEIR EYES, BUT IT DIDN'T MATTER. IT WAS LIKE, WE'RE COMING. AIN'T GOING TO LET NOBODY TURN ME AROUND WE'VE GOT TO SET ASIDE THIS ISSUE OF COLOR. AND START DEALING WITH THE REAL ISSUE, WHICH IS ECONOMICS.

I'M GOING TO KEEP ON A WALKING, KEEP ON A TALKING MARCHING UP THE FREEDOM LANE WE'RE IN THIS THING FOR THE LONG STRUGGLE AND IF IT TAKES FILLING UP THE JAILS, WE'RE GOING TO FILL UP THE JAILS, BUT WE'RE NOT GOING TO STOP UNTIL THIS ISSUE IS RESOLVED. I'M GOING TO KEEP ON WALK WAG I'M GOING TO KEEP ON WALKING WHAT WE CALL THE MODERN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TOOK PLACE DURING THE MIDDLE PART OF THE 20th CENTURY, NEARLY 100 YEARS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR. MANY PROTESTS TOOK PLACE IN THE SOUTH, BUT NOT ALL OF THEM. THE BATTLEGROUND INCLUDED URBAN AREAS AS WELL.

BLACK AMERICANS WHO HAD MIGRATED FROM THE SOUTH SEARCHING FOR BETTER OPPORTUNITIES IN THE NORTH FOUND BARRIERS TO THEIR ADVANCEMENT THERE AS WELL. PROTESTS AND DEMONSTRATIONS WERE HELD IN SUPPORT OF BETTER JOBS, BETTER SCHOOLS, OPEN HOUSING, AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE AS PEOPLE OF COLOR SOUGHT THEIR PIECE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. THE THING ABOUT THAT PARADE, IT WAS JUST PLANNING AND BEING AN AMERICAN, IN A WAY TO SAY, DEFINE HOW LITTLE WE WERE A PART OF THIS GREAT SOCIETY. THE BLACK MAN WASN'T EQUAL TO THE WHITE MAN IN THE 1960'S.

YOU KNOW, THE WHITE MAN HAD FREEDOM TO LIVE ANYPLACE HE WANTED TO, AS A MAN. BUT THE NEGRO COULDN'T. THE SYSTEM ITSELF WAS SEGREGATED, AND THAT IT WAS NOT GOING TO GET FINEST BEER BETTER, UNLESS THERE WAS SOME SORT OF DIRECT ACTION. MILWAUKEE HAD ITS SHARE OF PROTESTS, MOST NOTABLY, THE MARCHS FOR OPENING HOUSING, WHICH ATTRACTED NATIONAL ATTENTION.

BUT THERE WERE OTHER EQUALLY IMPORTANT ISSUES AS WELL. SOME WERE SOCIAL, SOME WERE ECONOMIC. ON THIS PROGRAM, WE WILL SHARE A FEW OF THE STORIES FROM SOME OF THE MANY PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATED. MARCHED FROM SELMA TO MONTGOMERY WITH HER AND REALLY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND.

I FELT MORE ALIVE AND MORE PASSIONATE AND MORE HOPEFUL THAN I FELT IN A LONG, LONG, LONG TIME OR EVER BEFORE REALLY. TO ME, THE ISSUES HAVE BEEN BEING FORCED INTO THE ARMED SERVICES, TO FIGHT FOR THIS COUNTRY, WHILE THIS COUNTRY WAS TREATING US AS SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. I BECAME CONVINCED THAT NOT ONLY DID THE SITUATION HAVE TO CHANGE, BUT THAT I WANTED TO BE PART OF MAKING THAT CHANGE. MILWAUKEE'S INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX DURING WORLD WAR II AFFORDED JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR BLACKS.

MOST OF THE JOBS WERE MENIAL, BUT THEY WERE BETTER THAN PICKING COTTON. THAT HELPED SPARKED A POPULATION BOOM. AT THE END OF THE WAR, THE CITY'S BLACK POPULATION NUMBERED ABOUT 15,000 PEOPLE AND WAS SEGREGATED IN THE CITY'S INNER CORE. BY 1970, THAT POPULATION WOULD EXCEED 100,000.

THEY CAME UP HERE, AND THEY HAD GOTTEN WORK THROUGH LETTERS, NEWSPAPER RECRUITMENTS. CHICAGO WAS ONE OF THE KEY HUBS IN WHICH AFRICAN-AMERICANS CAME TO FIRST, AND THEN LATER MADE THEIR WAY IN TO MILWAUKEE, HEARING ABOUT OPPORTUNITIES THAT EXISTED. BUT JOB OPPORTUNITIES DID NOT GUARANTEE THAT AFRICAN-AMERICANS WOULD BE FAIRLY CONSIDERED FOR JOBS. THESE YOUNG MEN, AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT AT UWM, APPLIED FOR A BUS BOY JOB AT MARK'S BIG BOY, RIGHT AT FARWELL AND PROSPECT ON THAT CORNER, IT'S A DIFFERENT BUSINESS NOW, BUT -- AND HE SAYS, WELL, I WENT THERE AND THEY TOLD ME THE JOB WAS FILLED.

AND THREE DAYS LATE, I SEE THE SIGN IN THE WINDOW AGAIN AND SO I WENT BACK AGAIN AND THEY TOLD ME IT WAS FILLED. AND WITH THAT, WE SAID, OKAY, YOU GO THERE AND APPLY AGAIN. SO HE WENT AND APPLIED AND HE TOLD THEM THE JOB WAS FILLED. AND WE HAD A WHITE TESTER, JUST WAITING, SO AS SOON AS HE REPORTED TO US THAT HE WAS TOLD THE JOB WAS FILLED, WE SENT THE WHITE TESTER IN.

AND HE TOLD THEM, HE COULD START, AND THAT AFTERNOON, AND THAT EVENING, WE HAD A PARADE OF MARCHS AROUND THE UWM. GIVENS WOULD LEAD THE NAACP YOUTH COUNCIL IN PICKETING THREE INNER CITY RESTAURANTS IN 1963. AT THE TIME THE NAACP WAS THE CITY'S PROMINENT CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION AND ITS YOUTH COUNCIL WAS VERY ACTIVE. THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL WITH MARK'S BIG BOY'S, BUT -- IT REALLY DISGRUNT HE WILLED A LOT OF THE -- DISGRUNTLED A LOT OF THE OLDER NAACPER'S, THEY WANTED TO WRITE LETTERS AND TALK TO PEOPLE AND TO FILE LAWSUITS AND ALL OF THAT STUFF AND WE SAID NO.

GIVENS WOULD LEAD THE NAACP, AND JOIN THE NEWLY FORMED MILWAUKEE CHAPTER OF CORE, THE CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY, AN CONTINUE TO PROTEST JOB DISCRIMINATION. WHAT THE YOUNG MAN STARTED WAS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE ENTIRE CITY OF MILWAUKEE. EVERYWHERE. WE STARTED TO THEN LOOK AT THE COMPANIES IN THIS COMMUNITY.

AND YOU HAD NO MINORITIES IN MANAGEMENT ANYPLACE. NOW, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO QUALIFY THE DIFFERENCE IN THESE MARCHES. OUR MARCHES TENDED TO BE SOCIAL, BUT THEY HAD AN ECONOMIC ASPECT TO THEM, BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GET A JOB, YOU CAN TALK ALL YOU WANT TO TALK, YOU'RE NOT INTO THE ECONOMIC SIDE OF THE SOCIETY, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, TERRIBLY IMPORTANT IN AMERICA. AND THE BEAUTIFUL THING ABOUT THE COMMUNITY IS ONCE WE DEMONSTRATED THAT WE WERE ABOUT ACTION, THEY WOULD COME OUT, AND YOU KNOW, WE'D START UP THE DEMONSTRATION WITH THE CORE OF THE PEOPLE WE HAD, AND THEN THE NEXT DAY, PEOPLE WOULD BE COMING FROM EVERYWHERE.

MRS. LILLIE PITTMAN AND HER FAMILY MOVED TO MILWAUKEE FROM MISSISSIPPI. I STARTED OUT WITH CORE. AT THE TIME, CORE.

JEANNETTEA ROBINSON AND CECIL BROWN. I PARTICIPATED IN A LOT OF MARCHES ON THE SCHOOL BOARD. THAT WAS SOMETHING ELSE. HERE I WAS WALKING IN THE COLD, THIS MAN COMES STORMING OUT OF THE DOOR, GO BACK TO AFRICA.

LORDIE ME. I SAID, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN HERE IF YOU HADN'T HAVE BROUGHT ME HERE. AND HE SAID BY QUIET. I SAID HE'S MESSING WITH ME, I AIN'T BOTHERING HIM.

MRS. PITTMAN'S CHILDREN WERE ALSO INVOLVED IN THE PROTEST, ESPECIALLY HER DAUGHTER LIDDIE. I STARTED IN, I THINK, PROBABLY MIDDLE SCHOOL, PROBABLY SEVENTH, EIGHTH GRADE. JEANNETTEA ROBINSON AND MA SIMPSON WE CALLED HER, BECAUSE THEY STARTED THIS COMMUNITY THING, COMMUNITY CENTER, AND WE WERE ONE OF THE FIRST KIDS THEY HAD, AND THEY WERE JUST LIKE THEY MOTIVATED US.

THEY MADE US BELIEVE THINGS, YOU KNOW, LIKE, YOU COULDN'T DO CERTAIN THINGS. WE BOUGHT INTO IT LIKE, YEAH, WE CAN DO THIS, SO HERE WE ARE. IN 1954, THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUSLY RULED THAT SEPARATE BUT EQUAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS WERE INHERENTLY UNCALM AND WERE TO BE DESEGREGATED WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED. A DECADE LATER, ATTORNEY AND STATE REPRESENTATIVE LLOYD BARBEE, FORMER NUN MARILYN MORE MOTHER USE IR, AND MEMBERS OF MUSIC THE MILWAUKEE UNITED SCHOOL INTEGRATION COMMITTEE, LAUNCHED AN ALL OUT OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM'S EFFORT TO DESEGREGATE.

M.P.S. WAS BUSING BLACK STUDENTS TO WHITE SCHOOLS, BUT STILL SEGREGATING AND ISOLATING THE BLACK STUDENTS. BRINGING AFRICAN-AMERICANS STUDENTS TO THE WHITE SCHOOLS AND SIMPLY ISOLATING THEM IN ONE GIVEN SPOT, NOT ALLOWING THEM TO INTERMIX AND INTERCOMMUNICATE WITH THE EUROPEAN STUDENTS THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. THAT IS JUST AS BAD AS THE RACIAL OR SEPARATE BUT EQUAL DOCTRINE THAT WE HAVE BEEN PRACTICING, FOR SOME 60 YEARS.

THE SCHOOL DESEGREGATION FIGHT HAD DIFFERENT ELEMENTS. THERE WERE WRIST BOYCOTTS AND BOYCOTTS OF NEW SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION. MR. MARCH BEE, FIRST OF ALL, -- MR.

BARBIE, HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND TO KEEP THE PROTEST UP? WE INTEND TO KEEP IT UP UNTIL WE CONVINCE THE MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL BOARD AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE THAT THE PROTESTS MUST END. KEEP ON TALKING, WALKING THERE WERE DEMONSTRATIONS AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS AND SHORT BOYCOTTS OF THE SCHOOLS THEMSELVES. THE FREEDOM SCHOOLS WERE A BOYCOTT THAT EXISTED TO -- THERE WAS LIKE THREE, FOUR OF THEM, AND THE KIDS ACTUALLY BOYCOTTED THE SCHOOLS, THEIR SCHOOLS, AND THEY WENT TO THE CHURCHES THAT HOUSED THEM, ST.

MARK'S WAS ONE, ST. BENEFIT WAS ONE. THERE WERE A LOT OF SMALL CHURCHES THAT ACTUALLY HAD FREEDOM SCHOOLS IN THEM. FREEDOM SCHOOLS, IT WAS LIKE A COUPLE DAYS, PEOPLE JUST LEFT OUT OF SCHOOL, AND SCHOOLS WEREN'T DOCKING YOU, WE LEFT SCHOOL, THIS IS OUR PROTEST, AN WE WENT TO THESE FREEDOM SCHOOLS DOWN AT ST.

BONIFACE AND FATHER GROPPI AND WE WERE GETTING HISTORY LESSONS, HISTORY WE HAD NOT GOTTEN IN SCHOOL, WE WERE LEARNING OUR HISTORY. I HELPED MARILYN ORGANIZE THE SCHOOL BOYCOTT, OKAY. I TAUGHT AT THE SCHOOL BOYCOTT. WE HAD GOOD CORPORATION FROM SOME OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN MINISTERS.

I TAUGHT BLACK HISTORY, OF COURSE. THESE FREEDOM SCHOOLS WERE SOMETHING THAT REALLY, REALLY REMEMBER, BECAUSE THEY CERTAINLY PROVIDED SOMEWHAT OF AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL. I ARRIVED NEAR THE END OF AUGUST, THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, 1965, AND THERE WAS A SCHOOL BOYCOTT. WHICH NO ONE TOLD ME, BECAUSE I WAS ABSOLUTELY NEW TO MILWAUKEE, HAVING GOTTEN OFF THE BUS THE NIGHT BEFORE.

ALTHOUGH SHE WAS NEW TO THE CITY, SHE SUPPORTED THE PROTEST. MANY PEOPLE HERE, WHO WERE BLACK, DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE SEGREGATED. IT WAS SO DIFFERENT IN MANY INSTANCES WHERE THEY COME FROM, THAT THIS WAS LIKE DYING AND GOING TO HEAVEN. TEACHERS WERE KIND OF FRIGHTENED.

BECAUSE THERE WERE VERY FEW BLACK TEACHERS. AND SO THEY DID NOT WANT THEIR HEAD STUCK OUT. I WAS A FOOL, I GOT IN -- I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TENURE. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I COULD HAVE BEEN GONE.

ALONG WITH THE PROTEST, BARBIE AND THE NAACP FILED A LAWSUIT CHARGING THAT THE SCHOOL SYSTEM PRACTICED AND ALLOWED SEGREGATION. AT THE TIME THE NAACP WAS ALSO INVOLVED IN THE OPEN HOUSING CONFLICT AND HAD LITTLE MONEY TO SUPPORT THE SCHOOL DESEGREGATION SUIT. WHAT WE LOOKED AROUND TOWN, WE COULDN'T FIND ANY MONEY. ALL THE NICE PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO GIVE MONEY, HAD JUST ABOUT GIVEN IT AND WERE LOOKING TO US TORE SOMETHING MUCH MORE CREATIVE.

SHE SOUGHT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM HER UNION, THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, THROUGH A SPECIAL FUND IT HAD ESTABLISHED. IT WAS THROUGH THE DESHANE FUND, AFTER I WENT TO A CONVENTION AND FOUND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON, BECAUSE I HAD NO IDEA, THAT THE DESHANE FUND OFFERED THE SERVICES TO TEACHERS WHO WERE IN SEGREGATED SITUATIONS, BUT THEY HAD NEVER BEEN SOLICITED BY NORTHERN TEACHER, CLAIMING THAT THERE WAS DEJURE SEGREGATION IN A LARGE CITY. WITH FUNDING SECURED, THEY CONTINUED GATHERING EVIDENCE AND PREP TESTING. IN 1976, FEDERAL JUDGE JOHN REYNOLDS RULED THAT MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS WERE INDEED SEGREGATED.

THE SCHOOL BOARD APPEALED TO THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, WHICH ORDERED A NEW TRIAL. THREE YEARS LATER, THE CASE WAS SETTLED AND THE SCHOOL BOARD AGREED TO IMPLEMENT A FIVE-YEAR PLAN TO DESEGREGATE THE SCHOOLS. WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS WAS ALSO BEING FUELED BY THE GROWING WAR IN VIETNAM. MY BROTHER COMES BACK FROM EUROPE AND THE AIR FORCE, DECIDES HE WANTS TO BY MY MOM A HOUSE AND HE'S GOING BACK TO ENGLAND.

TOOK HER UP ON CAPITOL DRIVE, THERE'S A HOUSE OUT THERE WITH A FOR SALE SIGN IN FRONT OF IT AND HE GOES UP IN UNIFORM AND KNOCKS ON THE DOOR AND INQUIRES ABOUT THE HOUSE AND THE LADY TELLS HIM VERY BLUNTLY, WE DON'T SELL TO NIGGERS. THE OPEN HOUSING STRUGGLE WOULD PUT MILWAUKEE IN THE NATIONAL HOUSING SPOTLIGHT. IT TOO WOULD TAKE YEARS TO RESOLVE. IN 1960, ATTORNEY LLOYD BARBEE AND THEN LAW STUDENT TOM JACOBSON DEVISED THE FIRST NORTHERN SIT-IN DEMONSTRATION IN MADISON TO DRAMATIZE THE NEED FOR A STATEWIDE FAIR HOUSING LAW.

TWO YEARS LATER, VEL PHILLIPS, THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WOMAN ELECTED TO MILWAUKEE'S COMMON COUNCIL, SPONSORED A SIMILAR CITYWIDE MEASURE. SHE WAS OUTVOTED 18-1. THE WHOLE THING WAS SEVERE IN MILWAUKEE. THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN MILWAUKEE HAD TRIPLED IN SIZE BETWEEN 1950 AND GROWN AGAIN BY 1967.

BUT THE OPPORTUNITIES TO RENT BEYOND A CERTAIN RESTRICTED AREA DIDN'T INCREASE. AND THE OPEN HOUSING CAMPAIGN WAS NOT SO MUCH SO THAT PEOPLE COULD LIVE IN BROOKFIELD OR MEQUON. IT WAS SO PEOPLE COULD LIVE ON 27th STREET. WE HAVE TRIED EVERY MEANS POSSIBLE TO BRING FAIR HOUSING LEGISLATION TO THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE.

FOR JAMES GROPPI BECAME AN ADVISER TO THE NAACP YOUTH COUNCIL IN 1965. A NATIVE MILWAUKEEAN, GROPPI HAD BEEN ACTIVE IN THE ORGANIZATION'S EFFORT TO DESEGREGATE THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. HE ALSO WORKED IN THE SOUTH THAT SUMMER WITH THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE. SO DID PEGGY ROZGA.

I SAW AMAZING POVERTY, IT TOTALLY CHANGED MY LIFE. TOTALLY CHANGED MY LIFE. WHEN I CAME BACK, I SAUVE MILWAUKEE THROUGH NEW EYES. SHE JOINED THE YOUTH COUNCIL AND BEGAN PROTESTING THE INJUSTICES SHE SAW.

SO DID BETTY HARRIS MARTIN. MY FATHER AND MY GRANDMOTHER ON MY FATHER'S SIDE, WERE A PART OF WHEN SEGREGATION WAS REALLY SEGREGATION, AND MY GRANDFATHER'S FATHER SPOKE TO HIM -- A WHITE GIRL AND FOR SPEAKING TO HER, HE WAS KILLED. AND HE WAS -- MY FATHER AND GRANDMOTHER WAS MADE TO WATCH AS THEY RAN A TRACTOR BACK AND FORTH OVER HIM. UNTIL HE WAS LEVEL WITH THE GROUND.

AND I MADE HER A PROMISE, I MADE HIM A PROMISE, THAT I WOULD CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, AS LONG AS I COULD CONTINUE TO WALK. SQUIRE AUSTIN WAS ONE OF THE YOUTH COUNCIL'S COMMANDOS. THE COMMANDOS WERE A POLICE FORCE THAT WE PUT TOGETHER TO PROTECT THE LEADERS OF THE MARCHS AND THE SPEAKERS, AND THE PEOPLE THAT WERE ACTUALLY DOING THE MARCH. THAT WAS THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE COMMANDOS.

WE'RE TO THE GOING TO MESS WITH YOU. WE ARE GOING TO PROTECT THESE PEOPLE BEHIND US, OKAY? BUT NO, WE ARE NOT NONVIOLENT. IF YOU ATTACK US, WE WILL NOT BALL UP IN A LITTLE KNOT AND LET YOU DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO.

WE HAVE DIGNITY, WE HAVE PRIDE, AN WE'RE DEMANDING THAT YOU RESPECT THAT. TENSION INCREASED AS PROTESTERS CONTINUED TO PRESS FOR EQUALITY AND THEIR EFFORTS MET WITH LITTLE SUCCESS. RELATIONS WITH THE POLICE, WHICH HAD NOT BEEN GOOD, BECAME MORE STRAINED. IF YOU PARTICIPATED, YOU WENT TO JAIL.

ONCE THEY GET YOU HANDCUFFED AND IN THE WAGON OR IN THE ELEVATOR, YOU'RE GOING TO GET HIT. YOU'RE GOING TO GET BEAT. WE KNEW THAT WAS COMING. SO THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT THAT.

YOU CAN COMPLAIN ALL YOU WANT, BUT YOU DIDN'T HAVE NO PROOF. I REMEMBER BEING ARRESTED ON WISCONSIN AVENUE, AND BEING TAKEN TO JAIL. AND WHEN I GOT DOWN THERE, I REMEMBER BEING PUT IN A ROOM, AND I REMEMBER BEING WHIPPED WITH A RUBBER HOSE ACROSS MY LEGS. AND I THINK THAT'S ANOTHER REASON WHY I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH HEIGHT TODAY.

BUT I REMEMBER BEING WHIPPED AND I REMEMBER BEING TOLD, NOW TOMORROW, WE DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU OUT HERE, BECAUSE IF WE SEE YOU OUT HERE, YOU THINK TODAY IS SOMETHING, WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW. ON JULY 30th, 196 SEND, VIOLENCE BROKE OUT IN MILWAUKEE AS POLICE ATTEMPTED TO BREAK UP A FIGHT AT A DOWNTOWN ENTERTAINMENT CLUB. THE RIOT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN AS DESTRUCTIVE AS THE RECENT VIOLENCE IN NEWARK OR DETROIT, BUT IT DID TAKE ITS TOLL ON THE CITY. PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THE RIOT, QUOTE UNQUOTE, THAT TOOK PLACE IN MILWAUKEE.

I LOOK AT IT AND I SAY, YOU KNOW, WITHOUT SOMEONE LIKE FATHER GROPPI TO SIPHON OFF THAT STEAM AND THAT ENERGY AND THAT HANGER, YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A REAL RIOT HERE. SO IN SOME ASPECTS, YOU ACHIEVE THE RELIEVING OF THE ANGER, THE EXPLOSIVENESS THAT THIS COUNTRY EXPERIENCED. BUT YOU DIDN'T EXPERIENCE IT HERE IN MILWAUKEE, BECAUSE THERE WAS A VALVE TO KIND OF LET THAT OUT AND A LEGITIMATE CONFRONTATION. OVER WHAT OUR DISAGREEMENTS ARE.

WELL, THE WORST THING I REMEMBER, IS SITTING ON MY PORCH AND WATCHING THE NATIONAL GUARD GO BY, IN JEEPS AND TRUCKS BEINGS AND POINTING DAWNS AT US. -- GUNS AT US. THAT'S THE FIRST THING I REMEMBER. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THAT REALLY GOT ME MUCH MORE ACTIVE THAN I HAD BEEN.

ON AUGUST 28th, 200 CIVIL RIGHTS PROTESTERS MARCHED ACROSS THE 16th STREET VIADUCT TO MILWAUKEE'S SOUTH SIDE, WHERE BLACKS HAD NOT BEEN ABLE TO LIVE. THEY WERE MET BY ABOUT 5,000 ANGRY WHITE SPECK AT A TIMERS, WHO THREW ROCKS, BRICKS, AND OBSCENITIES AT THEM. I GREW UP ON THE SOUTH SIDE. WHEN WE MARCHED ACROSS THE VIADUCT, WE MARCHED TO AN AREA WHERE I HUNG OUT AS A TEEN ANGER.

THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN TEENAGERS IN THE YOUTH COUNCIL WERE TERRIFIED. I THOUGHT THEY WERE WRONG. I THOUGHT IT WON'T BE -- IT TURNED OUT THEY WERE RIGHT. IT WAS A REAL -- FOREHIGH OPENER FOR -- ANOTHER EYE OPENER FOR ME THAT THE HATRED THAT HAD BEEN SOMEHOW UNDER WRAPS WAS UNCOVERED AND IT AMAZED ME THAT I HADN'T SEEN HOW DEEP AND HOW PERVASIVE IT WAS BEFORE THAT.

WE DIDN'T REALIZE JUST HOW BAD IT WAS GOING TO BE, UNTIL ONCE WE GOT THERE, YOU KNOW. AND WE JUST DEALT WITH IT THE BEST WE COULD. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT RACIAL HATRED RAN SO DEEP AS IT DID AND HOW THE PEOPLE, THEY WERE SO ANGRY, AND WHAT WE WERE PROTESTING FOR WAS NOT TO TAKE ANYTHING AWAY. IT WAS JUST FOR THE RIGHT TO BE ABLE TO INTERMINGLE WITH ALL PEOPLE.

INSTEAD OF BEING DISHEARTENED, THE YOUTH COUNCIL'S RESOLVE OF WAS STRENGTHENED. WE ARE GOING TO MARCH AGAIN ONTO SOUTH SIDE THIS EVENING, WE'RE GOING TO BEGIN HERE AT THE

FREEDOM HOUSE AT 6

00 P.M. AND WE'RE GOING TO TAKE THE SAME ROUTE THAT WE TOOK LAST NIGHT. THE SECOND NIGHT, THE PROTESTERS WERE MET BY A BIGGER AND ANGRIER CROWD AND THE NATIONAL NEWS MEDIA. THE ENSUING CONFRONTATION CAUSED MILWAUKEE TO BE DUBBED "THE SELMA OF THE NORTH," BY JOURNALISTS COVERING THE EVENT.

I LABELED MILWAUKEE THE SELMA OF THE NORTH FOLLOWING THE INITIAL MARCH ACROSS THE 16th 16th STREET VIADUCT, WHEN PEOPLE PROTESTERS MARCHED INTO THE PRIMARILY WHITE ETHNIC WORKING CLASS SIDE OF TOWN, AND FACED INCREDIBLE OPPOSITION, INCLUDING RACIST CHANTS AND SIGNS, THEY HAD THINGS THROWN AT THEM, ROCKS, BRICKS, STICKS, EVEN HUMAN URINE AND FECES, THINGS LIKE THAT, PEOPLE HOLDING WHITE POWER SIGNS AND THEN THEY WERE ALSO ATTACKED. LATER THAT EVENING, THE YOUTH COUNCIL'S HOME FREEDOM HOUSE, WAS MYSTERIOUSLY SET ON FIRE AND BURNED DOWN. WE WERE IN THE FREEDOM HOUSE NOW. THAT WAS A SCARY MOMENT.

THE TEAR GAS CAMP UP INTO THE FREEDOM HOUSE, AND WE WERE WATCHING TELEVISION, AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE'RE CHOKING. AND WE DON'T KNOW HOW WE'RE GOING TO GET OUT BECAUSE THE FRONT DOORS WHERE -- AND THE WINDOWS IS WHERE IT CAME IN, AN WE'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT, SHOULD WE LAY LOW AND I'M BEING TOLD, STAY DOWN, BECAUSE TEAR GAS DON'T GET DOWN THIS LOW AND I SAID I'M COUGHING, I HAVE TO COME OUT OF HERE AND I REMEMBER GETTING TO A WINDOW, AND THE WINDOW WAS BROKE. AND I REMEMBER SOMEONE HOLLERING, AND SAYING, JUMP, BETTY, JUMP. AND I WAS AFRAID TO JUMP, BUT I KNEW I COULDN'T STAY IN THERE, BECAUSE THE FIRE HAD STARTED, AN HE SAYS, OH, NO, YOU MUST JUMP.

YOU'VE GOT TO JUMP. SO I SAID, OH, I'M GOING TO TAKE A CHANCE, BECAUSE IT'S TOO HOT IN HERE AND I REMEMBER JUMPING, BUT I DON'T REMEMBER WHERE I LANDED. I REMEMBER JUMPING OUT, YOU KNOW, TO GET OUT. FIRE DEPARTMENT CAME AND THE POLICE WOULDN'T ALLOW THE FIRE DEPARTMENT TO PUT OUT THE FIRE, BECAUSE THEY SAID THERE WERE SNIPERS IN THE AREA, ONLY PEOPLE WE SAW WITH GUN WERE POLICE OFFICERS.

BUT THE FREEDOM WALKERS CONTINUED TO MARCH AND GATHER NEW RECRUITS. CHUCK COONEY LIVED JUST OFF OF THE VIADUCT. HE AND A NEIGHBOR ACCEPTED THE INVITATION TO JOIN THE MARCHERS. I HAD SEEN THE PICTURES OF THE INTEGRATION OF THE SOUTHERN UNIVERSITIES AND THE FEDERAL MARSHALS AND PEOPLE YELLING HATEFUL THINGS BUT UNTIL I ACTUALLY DID IT, I JUST -- I DIDN'T KNOW THINK THERE WAS THAT MUCH HATRED AND I GUESS, THAT MUCH RACISM AND I JUST DIDN'T -- I DIDN'T BELIEVE IT.

BUT THAT NIGHT, THAT VERY FIRST MARCH, I REMEMBER SAYING, YOU KNOW, I REMEMBER ACTUALLY PRAYING, YOU KNOW, I HOPE IT WAS KIND OF A MYOPIC VISION, I HOPE NASTY AND I GET OUT OF THIS IN ONE PIECE. WHAT THE MARCHES DID, THEY KEPT A FOCUS, HIGH FOCUS, BECAUSE THEY BROUGHT THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT ON MILWAUKEE BECAUSE OF THE REACTION OF THE MARCHES AS THEY WENT INTO THE SOUTH SIDE OF MILWAUKEE, AND IT HIGHLIGHTED THE PREJUDICE IN THE CITY. THE PROTESTS CONTINUED FOR MORE THAN 200 DAYS. THE FREEDOM WALKERS' EFFORT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL LOCALLY, BUT THEY DID SUCCEED AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL.

THE OPEN HOUSING CAMPAIGN HERE AND THE NATIONAL ATTENTION THAT IT ATTRACTED, HELPED SPUR PASSAGE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1968, OR OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE FAIR HOUSING ACT. BUT THEN, JUST TO SEE MY TAMMY BEING ABLE TO MOVE INTO A BETTER HOME, YOU KNOW WAS EXCITING, IT WAS REALLY GREAT. MY FATHER, HE WORKED HARD ALL HIS LIFE. WE COULD AFFORD TO MOVE INTO A BETTER NEIGHBORHOOD, AND -- BUT YET WE COULDN'T AND THEN THAT DAY CAME WHERE WE COULD.

SO IT WAS ALL WORTHWHILE. EVERYTHING WE DID, EVERY MARCH WE MADE, WAS WORTH IT. WE FOUGHT FOR EQUALITY AND OPPORTUNITY, THAT WE COULD NOT BE DENIED BASED SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF OUR SKIN. THAT'S THE WORLD WE FOUGHT FOR.

IT'S NOT THE WORLD THAT WE HAVE TODAY. WITH INTEGRATION, COMES THE DISPERSING OF OUR COMMUNITY, AS A COMMUNITY, AS A WHOLE. IF YOU STAY TOGETHER, WE HAVE MORE POWER AND WE JUST DISPERSE AND WE DON'T HAVE THAT COMMUNITY ANYMORE. I THINK IT'S A BETTER PLACE, BUT I'M AWFULLY SADDENED BY THE FACT THAT IT COULD BE A MUCH BETTER PLACE, BECAUSE I STILL GET THE FEELING THAT IF THERE ARE BOOTS IN THIS COMMUNITY ON THE NECKS OF PEOPLE THAT THEY SHOULDN'T BE ON, AND THERE'S AN OLD AXIOM THAT FITS THAT.

YOU CAN'T PUT A BOOT ON MY NECK AND EXPECT PROGRESS. I THINK MILWAUKEE IS TRYING TO HIDE FROM ITS RACIAL PAST AND YOU CAN'T. IT'S THERE. AND YOU MAY AS WELL ACKNOWLEDGE IT.

AND MAKE A DETERMINATION THAT YOU WANT TO TURN AWAY FROM THE HATRED AND THE UGLY TOWARD JUSTICE AND SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL. I THINK WE'VE MADE RACE AN ISSUE, THAT MANY TIMES, ECONOMICS COULD SMOOTH. BUT IF YOU, IN YOUR HEART, DON'T BELIEVE, THAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE AS EQUAL AS YOU, IT IS INDEED A DIFFICULT TASK, AND SO I BELIEVE THAT EDUCATION HELPS IMPROVE THAT. WE MADE IT ACROSS THE BRIDGE, BUT THEN AFTER WE GOT ACROSS, NOW WE'RE FACING SOME OF THE SAME PROBLEMS TODAY AS WE DID JUST TO GET ACROSS THE BRIDGE.

AIN'T GOING TO LET NOBODY TURN ME AROUND TURN ME AROUND, TURN ME AROUND AIN'T GOING TO LET NOBODY, TURN ME AND I'M GOING TO KEEP ON WALKING, KEEP ON TALKING, MARCHING UP THE FREEDOM LAND AIN'T GOING TO LET NO JAILHOUSE TURN ME AROUND TURN ME AROUND, TURN ME AROUND AIN'T GOING TO LET NO JAILHOUSE TURN ME AROUND, I'M GOING TO KEEP ON WALKING, KEEP ON A TALKING MARCHING UP THE FREEDOM LAND