From Margaret Rozga's "March on Milwaukee," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 90, Number 4, Summer 2007,

"By the early 1960s in Milwaukee, the energy of national civil rights movements had already taken hold. A local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) had worked on issues of public accommodations and insensitive remarks made by public officials. The Milwaukee United School Integration Committee (MUSIC), led by Wisconsin Assemblyman Lloyd Barbee, protested discriminatory policies of the Milwaukee School Board and organized school boycotts. The Milwaukee Youth Council of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), led by Father James Groppi, had marched at the homes of judges who maintained memberships in the Fraternal Order of Eagles, which had a "whites only" membership policy." (p. 30)

"African Americans faced a housing crunch in Milwaukee in the 1960s. Not only was the African American population of the city increasing, but available housing was also being reduced due to urban renewal projects that included tearing down old housing units. Often when African Americans moved beyond the confines of existing black neighborhoods, they were met with hostility. More often, when they tried to rent or buy in such neighborhoods, they were turned down altogether. In 1962, Alderman Vel R. Phillips, the first African American and the first woman elected to the city of Milwaukee Common Council, was also the first to introduce an open housing ordinance. Hers was the sole vote in favor; thus, her proposed legislation was voted down . Each time she re-introduced the legislation, the results were the same." (p. 30)

"Late in 1966, Ronald and Norma Britton were told by the white owner of a duplex that she couldn't rent to them because "what would my neighbors think?" Knowing of the activist orientation of the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council, Ronald Britton, an ex-Marine recently returned from Vietnam, called Youth Council adviser. Father Jame s E. Groppi of St. Boniface Church on 11th and Clarke Streets in Milwaukee's inner core, as the largely African American central city was then known. Father Groppi brought the issue to the Youth Council who took action to support this Vietnam veteran and his family. With the Christmas holiday approaching, members of the Youth Council and Father Groppi went to sing Christmas carols to the landlady. Father Groppi also telephoned Alderman Vel Phillips to ask if she'd like the support of the Youth Council in her efforts to get a fair housing ordinance in the city of Milwaukee. Discouraged in what for her had been a lonely battle, she welcomed their support." (p. 31)

June 19, 1967: "The Youth Council's first step to increase pressure on the Common Council was to picket at the offices and homes of aldermen who had black constituents but who were voting against the fair housing ordinance. Among the first targets was the home of Common Council president Martin Schreiber Sr. where the Youth Council and Father Groppi picketed June 19, 1967. During that demonstration, when Youth Council president Fred Bronson and several other Youth Council members rang the doorbell, Schreiber invited them in to talk, but no agreement was reached." (p. 32)

"In the next four weeks, the Youth Council picketed at the Capitol Drive office and nearby home of Alderman Jame s Maslowski, who, because the alderman position was officially designated as part-time, continued to work as a real estate agent." (pp. 32-33)