They lift your spirits, prompt you to think, make you feel grateful and inspire you to do more. They connect you to our community, shining a spotlight on what's good about our city. They're stories that are Uniquely Milwaukee, sponsored by the Milwaukee Public Library.
Harlem and Bronzeville. Two neighborhoods separated by more than 700 miles. Despite the space between them, there’s plenty that unites these epicenters of Black culture — with reputations built over more than a century.
There’s a historic connection between Harlem in New York City and Bronzeville here in Brew City. It’s something Radio Milwaukee’s digital-first platform HYFIN will put center stage at its third annual Anti-Gala, which this year pays homage to the Harlem Renaissance.
In this episode of Uniquely Milwaukee, I talked with HYFIN program director Element Everest-Blanks about the upcoming gala but also took a step back into history. In part one, you’ll hear from three Milwaukee notables about how the city’s Black community spurred its own renaissance starting in the 1920s up to a thriving Bronzeville in the 1950s.
Raynetta “Ray” Hill, executive director of the Historic King Drive BID, graciously stepped in as our guest interviewer and talked with Clayborn Benson, founder of the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum, and Reuben Harpole, Milwaukee’s “Second Mayor” and one of the city’s most respected community organizers.
“We’re a late-blooming city,” Benson told her. “The (Milwaukee) NAACP is born (1919), the (Milwaukee) Urban League is born. We’re beginning to address the issues that we’re having. Churches are beginning to come to Milwaukee. … The conditions are bad, but it begins to get a footing. The 1950s is really when (the city) really gets its feet, really begins to grow.”
There was a strong desire for Black residents to open their own businesses. Walnut Street once thrived with families, barbershops, the YMCA, supermarkets and the Regal Theater, “where everything used to come in our community,” Harpole explained. “We had Count Basie, Duke Ellington and all those folks coming.”
But, by the 1960s, the city made efforts to push African-Americans from the Bronzeville area.
“Part of Mayor Frank Zeidler’s plan is to create the Zeidler Report, which offers improvements that African-Americans can use to make that street functional,” Benson explained. “But Mayor Henry Maier wants to move them out. He wins the election (1960) after they don’t see the Zeidler Report being effective.”
Despite the shifting dynamics throughout Bronzeville’s history, the pair had many pleasant memories to share. Asked what made the neighborhood special to him, Harpole pointed to “the people, the music, Garfield Days, the churches.”
As for the future of Bronzeville, Benson hopes for more continued collaboration from within the community and its neighbors, as well as support from local and state leaders. “Sharing our skills,” he said. “We didn’t get here by ourselves. We got here with help from each other. That’s a necessary ingredient for us to be successful.”
To learn more about the HYFIN Anti-Gala: Harlem Nights taking place Aug. 14, including how to get one of the few remaining tickets, go to the event’s webpage. You can also find more details and content inspired by the Anti-Gala on HYFIN’s Instagram.
To learn more about the Black community’s history in Milwaukee, Benson suggested tracking down the following books, (check with our sponsor, the Milwaukee Public Library, to see if they have them on the shelves):
- Black Milwaukee by Joe Trotter
- More Than One Struggle by Jack Doughtery
- The Selma of the North by Patrick Jones
