When Milwaukeeans Marched for Open Housing

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Photo by Adam Carr

Wisconsin Historical Society March to Kosciuszko Park marker at Koscuiszko Park

Wisconsin Historical Society March to Kosciuszko Park marker at Koscuiszko Park

It’s easy to walk by important history in Milwaukee without knowing it. Even history that was never meant to be quiet.

Thankfully, part of our seminal history, Milwaukee’s Open Housing Marches, is now accessible from the sidewalk — where the stories were originally written. As of publishing, five markers spotlighting locations, events and themes of the marches have been installed throughout Milwaukee, four more slated for completion in the coming year. 

These are the first public memorials to the marches and this August marks the 58th anniversary.

Our civil rights moment was turbulent, consequential and symphonic in scale. Milwaukee’s local NAACP Youth Council chapter, Commandos and Father James Groppi marched in support of Alderwoman Vel R. Phillips’ resolution for open housing in Milwaukee’s Common Council. Their first march took place on August 28th, 1967, continuing for consecutive 200 days and nights, facing adversity ranging from 13,000 hostile white counterprotestors to police harassment to bitter cold conditions. The marches were serious political discourse, unfolding in Milwaukee’s neighborhoods and streets.

Since, we’ve collectively allowed this history to slip through our fingers. While motivated teachers and students work to teach and learn fuller versions of the history, only a narrow band of the full spectrum is widely engaged. 

Civil Rights Epicenter

“Hallowed ground.” That’s what late Commando Fred Reed called the land where St. Boniface Catholic Church once stood, where North Division High School stands today. Father Groppi’s home and a Catholic church with a predominantly Black congregation, St. Boniface was an epicenter of Milwaukee’s civil rights movement—a place for strategizing, gathering, rallying and more. The church was razed in 1975 to make way for the new and improved North Division.

During the summer of 2020, as George Floyd’s death ignited outrage around the world and throughout Milwaukee, I had the honor of gathering behind North Division with Reed and a group of marchers for a film project connecting protest through different eras. I watched as Reed and Rev. Joe Baring, also a Commando, chatted with the building’s groundskeeper, who sat on an idling riding lawnmower in the grass along Clarke Street. While the marches were a formative memory from the groundskeeper’s youth, he had no idea the land where St. Boniface was located was right beneath his feet. Today, a historical marker stands just a few steps away from where that conversation happened.  

Reed was a longtime leader within the Commandos and champion for this history, playing a key role in the planning and production of the markers. Just a couple weeks before his passing, Reed participated in his final meeting to ensure this history would not be lost to future generations. 

Remembering History

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Photo by Adam Carr

Wisconsin Historical Society marker - 16th Street Viaduct

Wisconsin Historical Society marker at the 16th Street viaduct discussing the marches for fair housing

The nine new Wisconsin Historical Society markers were planned by an advisory committee composed of elders from the NAACP Youth Council and Commandos and local historians, with support from WHS, America’s Black Holocaust Museum and William G. Pomeroy Foundation. Freshly installed markers are now located at the south end of the 16th Street Viaduct (introducing Open Housing Marches), James W. Beckum Park (commemorating the 5th Street Freedom House) and Kosciuszko Park (detailing dramatic marches to the South Side).

I’m especially grateful for the marker at 9th and North Ave at Friendship Baptist Church. On September 4, 1967, kicking off the second week of marching, NAACP Youth Council and Commandos held a rally at Metropolitan Baptist Church (since moved to 13th and Burleigh), their first rally at a Black Baptist church. While Father Groppi’s leadership in the marches is well known, the significance of Black churches and Black clergy in the Milwaukee’s Open Housing Marches is often overlooked.

Future markers will mark the history of the 15th Street Freedom House, police confrontation with Commandos, march to Wauwatosa and national Fair Housing movement.

Teaching the Past

Historical markers are no doubt important, but to reach young people—the predominating authors of this remarkable story—progress needs to be made in where and how this story is taught. That march has proven to be a labyrinth over the years, but three articles published by the Wisconsin Magazine of History offer a roadmap on how the story can be taught: Erica Metcalfe’s “Future Political Actors” and “Commanding A Movement,” as well as Margaret Rozga’s “March on Milwaukee”

The September 9, 1967 edition of the Milwaukee Star, a Black-owned newspaper, ran the headline “We Will March Forever.” With each passing year, more heroes from the ranks of marchers are no longer with us when we reach the anniversary. These Milwaukee heroes offered an example of what it looks like to advocate for the Milwaukee we need through the community we have. 

May we not forget their history. May we not lose our history.