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WAUKESHA – Continuing a memorial designed to
rekindle civic activity, the March On Milwaukee conference
brings together the names and ideas that moved activists 40
years ago to march for open housing in Milwaukee and aims to
cull new ideas and motivate new leaders.
Organized by
Margaret
(Peggy) Rozga, University of Wisconsin-Waukesha professor of
English, and Jasmine Alinder, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
assistant professor of history, the conference will be held
Saturday, September 29, at the UW-Milwaukee Student Union.
Admission is free and open to the public, but registration at
marchonmilwaukee.org is requested.
It runs from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. with the
featured closing address at 7 p.m. by Dick Gregory, nationally
known speaker, comedian, civil rights activist, and participant
in the Milwaukee open-housing marches.
Rozga wrote the play, March On
Milwaukee: A Memoir of the Open Housing Protests, which
debuted at UW-Waukesha in April under the direction of Mark
Lococo. Another performance, directed by Andre L. Ellis, at 7
p.m. on Thursday, September 27, at the Humphrey Scottish Rite
Center, 790 N. Van Buren, will kick off the fall commemorative
weekend. Rozga, who actively participated in the marches, is the
widow of Fr. James Groppi, a prominent leader in the 1960’s
open-housing movement in Milwaukee.
A 5:30-7:30 p.m. opening of a memorial
exhibit on the open housing marches will be held Friday,
September 28, at the Wisconsin Black Holocaust Society/Museum,
2620 W. Center St.
Concluding the weekend events, some of
those who led the open-housing protests will gather to conduct a
memorial ceremony on Sunday, September 30, at 2 p.m. on the 16th
Street James F. Groppi Unity Bridge spanning the Menomonee River
Valley.
The University of Wisconsin System
Institute on Race and Ethnicity awarded a $2000 grant to Rozga
and Alinder for the conference to help fund the Dick Gregory
honorarium, the costs to display UW-Milwaukee and WTMJ-TV
archival materials, and educational packets for conference
attendees.
UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment
among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges
campuses. For information about UW-Waukesha
admission, financial aid, programs, or policies, contact the
Student Services office 888 2UW-WAUK (289-9285) or visit the Web
at waukesha.uwc.edu.
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