Decade of Discontent - part 1 of 4 - 1960-70 Milwaukee Civil Rights Movement
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- What can we learn about contemporary urban problems from the 60s?
Are the conditions that led to the unrest in the 50s still present in 1994? The historical, video-documentary DECADE OF DISCONTENT examines these issues and more in a riveting look-back at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin civil rights movement.
Former Milwaukee alderman Vel Phillips, attorney Lloyd Barbee and the late Father James Groppi are featured leading the community in its efforts to come to grips with four major issues--unemployment, unequal education, police-black community relations and open housing.
The 60s footage that is used in the documentary includes comments from the late Robert Kennedy, Milwaukee police chief--Harold Breier, former Mayor Henry Maier, former senator Charles Percy, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Dick Gregory, and others.
DECADE OF DISCONTENT is the only video available that looks at this period through the eyes of the black community and its progressive white allies. The Milwaukee Journal in a 1981 critique of the documentary said "The documentary...does a first-rate job of telling the story of the black discontent that characterized the period." We might add, it is a valuable historical tool that needs to be preserved for future generations.
As problems in Wisconsin's urban areas continue to challenge us in the 90s, DECADE OF DISCONTENT contains valuable lessons and insights for all of us. Perhaps it's time that we look at it again and begin the long overdue dialogue between blacks and whites. If we are to avoid volatile social unrest in the 90s, then we must learn from the past~-not dismiss it or pretend that the problems don't exist. The issues then and now are real and affect us all.
DECADE OF DISCONTENT first aired in 1981 on the Wisconsin Educational Network as well as commercial TV stations in Green Bay
The documentary was originally funded in part by Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) funds contracted by the Governor's Employment and. Training' Office. WMTV-Channel 15 in Madison, WI provided thousands of dollars worth of in-kind filming and editing services. DECADE OF DISCONTENT is a Project Self-Help and Awareness Production. The executive producer is Chuck Taylor.
Length: 55:34
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I remember Father James Groppi, from the 50's, 60's and 70's he was a main character in helping the black community during the Civil Right Movement, here in Milwaukee. I was born in 1952 and seen the rioting in the streets of Milwaukee Wi....Back in the 60's I watched the marches in the street over in Wauwatosa, which was 5 blocks from my home. It was fairly peaceful for the most part, except for the tear gas and arrest's. Father Groppi did so much for the black community back then. God rest his soul.
Very informative.
I was in high school when the demonstrations started in the downtown area. I was working at Bakers shoe store on Wisconsin Ave when we were told to leave the store and go home. Father Groppi was a priest at St. Veronica's church and when I was younger and in Sunday School he would often stop in to see the kids. It wasn't a very nice time back then, the city went under a curfew and we weren't supposed to be out after dark.
My dad born in 1937 pinebluff ar moved to Milwaukee in 1961 and retired from the us army . he had me and my twin at the age of 64
Bahagah drake s/o with that sample
Three recollections:
1. My mother and I were out Christmas shopping one night in the 1960s (I couldn't have been more than 10 years old) when Father Groppi showed up with protesters, and she pulled me into a store until they passed.
2. My father worked downtown, and one morning, police offers stopped him at the entrance to the freeway. They asked him where he was going. When he told the officers the cross streets of his place of employment, they said, "no, you're not--go home." Riots were in full force downtown at the time (complete with rock and bottle throwing and setting fires--the result being that there was a city-wide curfew applied that I recall clearly). Also, some of my father's female co-workers were raped in the parking lot as they arrived to work or left from it, something that was particularly sad because they were engaged in providing services to mostly black clients.
3. The Northridge Mall in Milwaukee was plagued with numerous rapes in the parking lots during the 1970s, even during the daytime (I know because I worked at Woolworth's Harvest House there during high school). As thugs took over the mall, decent people stopped going there, and eventually it closed. I also worked briefly at another mall, and one of my co-workers was pushed into her van and raped during the daytime. The guy was caught waiting for a bus, and he had numerous stolen watches on his arms concealed with a long-sleeved shirt.
Frankly, I feel grateful that I left the Milwaukee area permanently in my early 20s, as did my brother, and eventually my parents left, too, retiring to a more peaceful area of the country in the early 1980s.
Milwaukee is much better now, and a very great place. I encourage you to revisit.
I also grew up in Milwaukee and I have memories of Fr.Groppi's marches and the violence.In '66 I was 11.