By Warren K. Leffler, U.S. News & World Report Magazine [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired." - Fannie Lou Hamer Fannie Lou Hamer was a central figure in the African American civil rights movement. She was the founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) and later the National Women's Political Caucus. The courage she demonstrated in…
Read moreBy O'Halloran, Thomas J., photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) may be most remembered for their organization of the Freedom Rides, a series of interracial protests against segregated bus seating in the late 1960s. Founded in 1942 by James Farmer, Bayard Rustin, Homer Jack, and George Houser in Chicago, IL, CORE was created to improve race relations and end…
Read moreClayborn Benson at a Kwanzaa celebration. Photo provided by Clayborn Benson In celebration of Black History Month, Milwaukee Public Library is hosting several events at multiple library locations throughout the month of February. One of these events, African American History with Clayborn Benson will be held on Wednesday, February 12th at the Martin Luther King Library. What impact did African Americans have on Wisconsin's inception as a…
Read more"I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong." - Frederick Douglass. The above quote is striking, is it not? But like many great sound bite quotes, it says so much more in context. This comes from a lecture that Douglass gave in 1855 to the Ladies of the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society: My point here is, first, the Constitution is, according…
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