Tula Connell

Review.

Review.

Review.

Review.

Abstract
Overwhelmingly white and middle class, Milwaukee in the 1950s stood at the brink of rapid demographic change as thousands of African Americans from the U.S. South migrated to the city. From 1950 to 1960, Milwaukee’s black population grew from 21,772 to 62,458, a 187 percent increase that alarmed many white residents and provided fuel for a race-baiting mayoral campaign against the city’s liberal mayor in 1956. But even as the new residents challenged long-held notions of white… Show more

Abstract
Overwhelmingly white and middle class, Milwaukee in the 1950s stood at the brink of rapid demographic change as thousands of African Americans from the U.S. South migrated to the city. From 1950 to 1960, Milwaukee’s black population grew from 21,772 to 62,458, a 187 percent increase that alarmed many white residents and provided fuel for a race-baiting mayoral campaign against the city’s liberal mayor in 1956. But even as the new residents challenged long-held notions of white privilege, their arrival also was not uniformly welcomed by the city’s longtime middle- and upper middle-class African American residents, whose classist perspective often aligned with white municipal lawmakers and community and labor leaders.

The increased number of low-income African American migrants living in Milwaukee brought into sharp relief the inability of all black Milwaukeeans to secure jobs and decent housing. Furthermore, African American job seekers found little recourse in the local labor movement, with union leaders and members mirroring the city’s sociocultural biases. African American migrants faced a combination of racial discrimination and class-based bias built on perceptions that all black migrants were lower skilled, low-income workers who did not fit into the city’s “culture,” a euphemism frequently employed to reference “class.”

This article examines how the response of labor, lawmakers, and the community in 1950s Milwaukee, like Detroit and Chicago in earlier years, set the direction for decades to come. Show less

Conservative Counterrevolution explores how the clash between political conservatives and champions of liberalism in 1950s Milwaukee shaped a city and helped redefine postwar American politics nationwide. The narrative shows how far-right conservatives created a 50-year game plan to “make America great again,” one that was driven by an all-out assault on unions and opposition to civil rights. Their actions laid the groundwork for conservatism’s more extreme and far-reaching future success… Show more

Conservative Counterrevolution explores how the clash between political conservatives and champions of liberalism in 1950s Milwaukee shaped a city and helped redefine postwar American politics nationwide. The narrative shows how far-right conservatives created a 50-year game plan to “make America great again,” one that was driven by an all-out assault on unions and opposition to civil rights. Their actions laid the groundwork for conservatism’s more extreme and far-reaching future success. Conservative Counterrevolution reveals how historical trends often documented at the national level first played out on the ground in a great American city. Show less

October 2018.

“Democrats Are Holding Their Convention in Milwaukee. The City’s Socialist Past Is an Asset,”
Washington Post, March 20, 2019
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/03/20/democrats-are-holding-their-convention-milwaukee-why-its-socialist-past-is-an-asset/

"Vel Phillips Broke Sexist Barriers, Challenged Bigots of All Kinds, Even Milwaukee's Mayor," Milwaukee Journal, April 19… Show more

“Democrats Are Holding Their Convention in Milwaukee. The City’s Socialist Past Is an Asset,”
Washington Post, March 20, 2019
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/03/20/democrats-are-holding-their-convention-milwaukee-why-its-socialist-past-is-an-asset/

"Vel Phillips Broke Sexist Barriers, Challenged Bigots of All Kinds, Even Milwaukee's Mayor," Milwaukee Journal, April 19, 2018
https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/04/19/vel-phillips-broke-sexist-barriers-challenged-bigots/529783002/

"Thai Unions Collaborate for Success," Labor Online, Jan. 8, 2018
https://www.lawcha.org/2018/01/26/thai-unions-coordinate-collaborate-success/

"Conservatives Have Been Trying to Convince Us They'll 'Make America Great' for Over Half a Century,” Alternet, July 21, 2016
https://www.alternet.org/right-wing/far-rights-50-year-project-make-america-great-again

“One Man’s Evolution to Understanding Gender Inequality,” Thomson Reuters, Dec. 2, 2015
http://news.trust.org/item/20151202143943-cdlkx/
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