"According to Dave Luhrssen, 'It was a ghetto in the sense that walls of prejudice enclosed its residents, but it wasn’t a slum'” (Milwaukee).
“Milwaukee life remained difficult for African Americans at the onset of the Great Migration. Banks refused to give housing loans outside certain boundaries, and societal prejudice forced African Americans to be confined to what became the Bronzeville neighborhood. First to feel the impact of the Great Depression, the perceived better life that drove African Americas to move north was not reality. Paul Geenen notes, 'in 1940, 51 percent of African American men were unemployed, with 29 percent of them actively looking for work, compared to the 13 percent of white men seeking work.' Despite the economic hardships, the African American population in Milwaukee grew significantly during this time, from 8,821 in 1940 to 21,772 in 1950” (Milwaukee).
Bronzeville was a tightly-connected community, however, the residents faced many issues. Bronzeville was a community bordered by streets and racial discrimination. It was also known by names such as “Little Africa” because of its high concentration of African-American residents.