Embedded Files
NOTE: the original racial and ethnic slurs have been replaced in this piece with stars.
In 1962, Alderman Vel Phillips introduced an ordinance to outlaw housing discrimination in Milwaukee. The other Common Council members all voted against the ordinance, and hers was the only vote in support of the open housing bill. She proposed a fair housing ordinance four more times in the Milwaukee Common Council in following years, and it was voted down every time.
Questions for reflection:
1. Why is it harmful to use racial/ethnic slurs?
2. How does the author think that open housing, where people will be able to live where they want to live instead of only in certain areas, will help people see each other in a different way?
3. Thinking about Alderman Phillips’ experience in the Milwaukee Common Council, hy does the author of this cartoon think that voting will help with fair housing in Milwaukee?
“What It Can Do,” March 30, 1968, Milwaukee Star, Public Library Microfilm Collection, Microfilmed by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
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