Editor's Note: A look at Milwaukee 50 years after death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Roll back the clock exactly 50 years, to March 25, 1968.
The scars of the riots of the previous August were fresh. The federal Kerner Commission had just concluded the riots across the nation resulted from African-American frustration over economic inequality and lack of opportunity.
The city’s open housing marches, which spanned 200 nights, had ended, but despite their intensity — with thousands of marchers met by bottle-throwing throngs on the south side — no ordinance had passed the Common Council.
In a way, things were on pause.
RELATED:Commemorative section
Then came April 4, 1968 — the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.
The next day, more than 1,000 students walked out of North Division High School to attend a memorial service at St. Boniface Church, where Father James Groppi urged them to adhere to King’s philosophy of nonviolence.
Three days later, anywhere from 14,000 (Milwaukee police estimate) to 25,000 (organizers’ estimate) people marched down Wisconsin Ave. to honor King.
Within days, Congress passed the 1968 Civil Rights Act. Within weeks, the Common Council passed an open housing ordinance.
The story didn’t end there, of course.
We are still living the story today.
Since last July, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been examining where the community stands a half century after the marches of 1967 and 1968. Our 50-Year Ache project, with support from Aurora Health Care, has explored the corrosive effect decades of segregation have had on our community and where we go from here.
That work continues in this commemorative section, which marks 50 years since the death of King. It features memories of the civil rights movement, a look at the hope drawn from the recent economic resurgence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and ways to learn more about King and celebrate his legacy.
Of course, King himself said it best: “The time is always right to do right.”
Greg Borowski is deputy editor/news, projects and investigations for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.