Part 1

Those familiar with Milwaukee's far Northwest Side know that it has changed over time. Decades-long economic decline, divestment, and lack of city leadership has caused this majority Black area to suffer tremendously. As Northwest Siders dream of possibilities and prepare to organize toward a more thriving reality, it's important to contextualize our modern experience with the history of events that lead to what we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel today. This is the first of a three-part blog series intended to depict how we got here and the world we want to see.

Geographically, City-data.com reports Milwaukee’s Northwest Side to contain zip codes 53209, 53223, 53224, and 53225. In our organizing, the African American Roundtable (AART) prioritizes work in Aldermanic Districts(AD) 5 and 9 for. If you spend time in AD 5's Cooper Park, Timmerman West or Golden Valley neighborhoods, then you may be impacted by things happening on Milwaukee’s far Northwest Side. This blog speaks to events that previously occurred in, and continue to impact, the nearby Granville, Northridge Lakes, Havenwoods, and Bradley Estates neighborhoods of AD 9. 

According to a pre-data report on Milwaukee’s broader historical landscape, created by our our partners at UBUNTU Research & Evaluation, "during the Great Migration … restrictive policies like redlining, mortgage disadvantages, restrictive covenants, and suburban zoning laws forced Black families to live within city limits, [and] these policies limited access to social determinants of health such as housing, education, and employment, leaving few avenues for advancement … The construction of Interstate 43 in the late 1960s destroyed more than 8,000 homes, businesses, clubs, and organizations that contributed to the [Bronzeville cultural hub]'s sense of community, leaving many residents displaced. As a result, Black residents were pushed out and moved to what is considered the ‘Northside’ of Milwaukee."

Milwaukee’s far Northwest Side has received those displaced from areas farther south and east for decades and without any intentioned effort to blend the norms coming together from the city’s segregated and culturally distinct parts. So it was inevitable that the later heterogeneous community would perceive itself as riddled with crime, unsafe to settle, and a liability for businesses. The catalyst event to this narrative had to be the false report of Jesse Anderson that he and his wife had been attacked by two Black men at the old Northridge Mall in the Northridge Lakes neighborhood. After his wife's death, investigators learned that the two perpetrators did not exist and that Anderson had murdered her.

This was the beginning of a storyline of violence and theft that plagued Northridge Mall, and corporate businesses in the area, and perpetually blamed Black people who had migrated to this side of town. This reputation became reason enough for businesses like Walgreens, IHOP, the Northridge theater, etc. to close their doors on the Northwest Side, white flight to ensue, and the city to continually deprioritize reinvigorating the area with communal offerings (e.g. opportunities for youth, family recreational activities, quality dining and shopping experiences, community parties and events) that could renew and sustain its economy.

The Northwest Side is a case study of how Milwaukee generationally perpetuates harmful stereotypes that conflate race and class, indignifies Black and brown people, and proceeds to neglect the places where we reside. Knowing this history, and that history tends to repeat itself, what current elements of the 21st Century Northwest Side experience could be reminiscent of that of the 19th Century? Keep an eye on AART's blog for a Part Two of this series that will explore that question.

Ryeshia Farmer serves as the African American Roundtable’s Community Program Manager.