Bronzeville

Known variously as the “Inner Core,” “Sixth Ward,” and (pejoratively) “Little Africa,” among other names, Bronzeville was the historic core of African-American Milwaukee on the city’s Near North Side. Racial segregation roughly defined its boundaries along State Street, North Avenue, North 3^rd Street (now Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive), and North 12^th Street.[1] Milwaukeeans also use the designation “Bronzeville” to refer more broadly to the African-American occupied areas of the city’s North Side, an echo of how the moniker is used in Chicago. One observer described the neighborhood as “a city within a city full of leadership, a sense of community, and a focus on entrepreneurship.”[2]

Previously part of the Kilbourntown settlement and home to German and Eastern European Jewish immigrants through the nineteenth century, Bronzeville was one of the oldest parts of the city. African-Americans who arrived in Milwaukee in the early-to-mid twentieth century concentrated in Bronzeville.

Although 3^rd, 12^th, and Winnebago streets were important neighborhood commercial areas, Walnut Street was the heart of Bronzeville. It was lined with a variety of African-American businesses, including hotels, restaurants, markets, funeral parlors, barber shops, pool halls, and taverns, as well as the offices of lawyers, physicians, real estate dealers, and organizations.[3] Bronzeville residents enjoyed a vibrant array of social and community engagement opportunities organized by the Booker T. Washington YMCA, the Lapham Park and Fourth Street social centers, the Prince Hall Masons, the Near North Side Businessmen’s Advancement Association, and the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Milwaukee. Informal entertainment included philosophical discussions and speakers at the Lapham Memorial rock and movies and stage shows at the Regal Theater.[4] Fourth Street School (now Golda Meir), Ninth Street School, Roosevelt Junior High, and North Division High School served neighborhood children. Bronzeville produced many notable professionals, including civil rights activist and educator Dr. Howard Fuller, journalist Richard G. Carter, and alderwoman and judge Vel Phillips.

Bronzeville supported a diverse faith community. Residents worshipped at St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Matthew Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church, Greater Galilee and Calvary Baptist churches, Morris Memorial Church of God in Christ, and a host of storefront churches. The Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Mosque Number Three stood on McKinley Boulevard starting in 1935.[5]

Bronzeville was the center of Milwaukee’s jazz scene. Major clubs on Winnebago and Walnut Streets hosted nationally famous artists, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday, and budding local greats, like Bunky Green and Willie Pickens.[6] A flourishing underground economy in bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling also supported neighborhood taverns, clubs, and restaurants.[7]

The construction of the North-South (Interstate 43) and Park East freeways destroyed many Bronzeville homes and businesses, displaced numerous residents, and disrupted community life in the 1960s.[8] Although less violent than disturbances that erupted in other American cities, the civil disorder of 1967 also caused lasting physical and social damage to the Bronzeville community.[9]

In more recent years, as some longtime residents moved out, “Bronzeville” has been reimagined as distinct neighborhoods, including Haymarket, Hillside, Halyard Park, and Triangle North. Organizations like the Walnut Area Improvement Council and Walnut Way Conservation Corp. and the informal monthly Walnut Street Social Gathering Club sustain Bronzeville’s legacies. In 2005, the city introduced plans for a new Bronzeville Cultural and Entertainment District, a public-private endeavor to create a tourist destination centered on North Avenue between North 7^th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.[10]