My parents moved from Mississippi to the Midwest during the Great Migration north for a better life. Like many African-Americans, they were looking for employment and an opportunity to live the American Dream.
Their journey would lead them to an upper duplex in the heart of Milwaukee’s central city on North 9th Street and West Keefe Avenue. The area is Milwaukee’s 53206 ZIP code.
When my parents and I lived in 53206 during the early 1970s, Milwaukee was considered one of the best places in the nation for African-Americans. The city of Milwaukee was an economic power, attracting workers from the South. The nation was at its post-World War II industrial peak. More than 85 percent of black men between 25 and 54 in the Milwaukee metro area had jobs, with four in 10 black adults working in manufacturing — the highest percentage in the nation, according to a 2007 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study.
[For more on this story by James Edward Causey, go to https://www.centerforhealthjournalism.org/resources/lessons/reporter-goes-home-tell-story-milwaukee-garden-trying-save-young-boys?]
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