History of Black Milwaukee Presented by John Gurda

ABHM is excited to announce that John Gurda will be presenting some of this expansive history that he has researched over the course of his career at the museum. There have been Black Milwaukeeans for as long as there’s been a Milwaukee. African Americans were present when the future metropolis was just a fur-trading post, and they grew with the city during its rise as a hotbed of abolitionist activity, an industrial powerhouse, and a haven for immigrants. The group’s numbers soared during the Great Migration of the twentieth century, and Black Milwaukeeans are the city’s largest single cultural group today. Unfolding over nearly two centuries, their story is an inspiring chronicle of struggle, resilience, and pride.

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