Analysis Of Selma Of The North

Mackenzie LeRoy
5/4/14
African American History
Selma of the North

The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee, written by Patrick D. Jones, pushes to distinguish northern life and the more popular southern movement and to what extent they influenced one another. The African American community that lived in Milwaukee were subjected to discrimination in housing, employment, and educational opportunities. There were many struggles before the 1960’s when the movement took place. They were treated very poorly and then decided it was time for a change. Before the youth council was involved leaders denied racial topics, and segregation influenced noncooperation and stereotypes. Jones later focuses his attention on the evolution of Milwaukee and the NAACAP. Which then involved the Youth Council. Their efforts, with the help of James Groppi, coordinate many protests against many different aspects of segregation in Milwaukee.
As nonviolence became more acceptable many youth councils left the NAACP because they were more interested in “not violet” activism. The YC asked Father Groppi to be their leader, and he then lead the YC, the commandos, preaching not violent ways. Not violent means not to initiate violence but defend yourself if necessary. Nonviolence is to be completely harmless. From 1965 through 1968 Groppi lead the YC in movements to end segregation and to promote self-motivation. Protest marches lasted for 200 days in 1967 and 1968 which drew a lot of attention from other participants for other areas. Groppi becomes a celebrity, but it is particularly important to observe the conflicted relationship between Father Groppi and the Catholic population...

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...lls which imprison men because they are different from other men.
In conclusion, despite this shortcoming, Selma of the North is a solid pathway into the very large bookshelf on civil rights activism in the North. The marches shifted public opinion about the Civil Rights movement. The images of police beating the protesters were shown all over the country by television networks and newspapers. The visuals of such brutality being carried out by the state of Alabama helped shift the image of the segregationist movement from one of a movement trying to preserve the social order of the South to a system of state-endorsed terrorism against non-whites. It offers what Jones correctly calls “another tile to the mosaic” of studies about the struggle for racial justice in the twentieth century.

Buoyer, Martha . "Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story." The