Forty years ago, thousands of Milwaukee residents marched for equal rights to join and participate in local organizations, receive equal and appropriate educational resources for their children, and live where they wanted. Thus, the purpose of the book, Asante Sana, Thank You Father James E. Groppi is to commemorate and honor the Father James E. Groppi and the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council/Commandos who unselfishly put their lives on line and made a significant difference in making Milwaukees history one that changed the livelihood for all living beings. Specifically, in the book: Asante Sana, Thank You Father James E. Groppi, the author, who was one of the original founders of the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council in 1964, poetically responds to some of the famous quotes of Father Groppi and the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council members while they experienced life- threatening issues with racial discrimination in Milwaukee during the 1960s. (Asante Sana, Thank You Father James E. Groppi by Dr. Shirley R. (Berry) Butler-Derge (2010).

With unrest around the country and riots in Newark and Detroit, it became known as "the long, hot summer" of 1967. Milwaukee experienced a riot, too, and then became the biggest civil rights story in the nation as a white Catholic priest, along with a bunch of kids from the inner city, conducted marathon marches and demonstrations for an open housing law. It was a defining period, though not the end, of years of civil rights protests in Beertown, USA, against de facto school segregation, discrimination by a private club whose roster included members of the white power structure, and public officials who refused to recognize that a substantial number of people were still outsiders in their own city. Frank Aukofer walks us by the hand through the civil rights struggles in Milwaukee during the 1960s. Possessing all the qualities of a born reporter, he is able to tie up political, religious, social and personal aspects of these times into a complete history.

Poetry. African American Studies. This book of poetry presents a brilliant analysis which takes us through the brave history of the strength, commitment and passion of the people of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as they marched, struggled, and were jailed to win the victory of justice and freedom for all. Peggy Rozga joined protestors, participated in freedom marches, and was jailed for fighting and marching for the rights of poor Black children of the city of Milwaukee under the leadership of one of the great advocates of non-violence, direct action, and civil disobedience of our times: Father James Edmund Groppi.

Essays about the original Black Panther Party’s local chapters in seven American cities that seek “to move beyond the usual media stereotypes . . . Recommended” (Choice). The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in Oakland, California, in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. It was perhaps the most visible of the Black Power groups in the late sixties and early seventies, not least because of its confrontational politics, its rejection of nonviolence, and its headline-catching, gun-toting militancy. Important on the national scene and highly visible on college campuses, the Panthers also worked at building grassroots support for local black political and economic power. Although there have been many books about the Black Panthers, none has looked at the organization and its work at the local level. This book goes beyond Oakland and Chicago examines the work and actions of seven local initiatives in Baltimore, Winston-Salem, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. These local organizations are revealed as committed to programs of community activism that focused on problems of social, political, and economic justice.

Between 1958 and 1970, a distinctive movement for racial justice emerged from unique circumstances in Milwaukee. A series of local leaders inspired growing numbers of people to participate in campaigns against employment and housing discrimination, segregated public schools, the membership of public officials in discriminatory organizations, welfare cuts, and police brutality. The Milwaukee movement culminated in the dramatic—and sometimes violent—1967 open housing campaign. A white Catholic priest, James Groppi, led the NAACP Youth Council and Commandos in a militant struggle that lasted for 200 consecutive nights and provoked the ire of thousands of white residents. After working-class mobs attacked demonstrators, some called Milwaukee “the Selma of the North.” Others believed the housing campaign represented the last stand for a nonviolent, interracial, church-based movement. Patrick Jones tells a powerful and dramatic story that is important for its insights into civil rights history: the debate over nonviolence and armed self-defense, the meaning of Black Power, the relationship between local and national movements, and the dynamic between southern and northern activism. Jones offers a valuable contribution to movement history in the urban North that also adds a vital piece to the national story.