Madison, Feb 27, 1960 - Civil Rights comes to the Capitol Square wortfm.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wortfm.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Madison made civil rights history in 1963 by adopting the first fair housing ordinance in the state
Thanks to a conservative white mayor, two forceful Black leaders, two pioneering women, a helpful city attorney, strong support from both city newspapers and a vast citizens’ support network, Madison made civil rights history in 1963 by adopting the state’s first open housing ordinance.
January 29, 2021 12:10 PM Stu Levitan
Updated:
Marshall Colston (second from right below with his family wife Eva and children Marty, Laura and Jacqueline, pictured left to right) took up the fight. Not everyone agreed, including the Board of Realtors, which circulated an anti-fair housing ad. (Courtesy of Capital Newspapers)
Madison in the Sixties – December, 1963 – Shirley Abrahamson helps Madison make civil rights history.
In 1963, racial discrimination in housing was perfectly legal in Wisconsin, and very real; only about 27% of the city’s rental units, and 12% of the houses for-sale, were available to nonwhites.
The city didn’t even have a meaningful board or commission working for civil rights. Instead, there was the Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights (MCHR), which the Council created in 1952 as a powerless consolation prize for activists after their proposed fair housing ordinance was soundly defeated.
In February, 1962, Atty. Lloyd Barbee, president of the state NAACP and chair of the Mayo’s Commission, released the draft of a tough human rights ordinance banning bias in housing, employment, and public accommodations. But it went nowhere, and Barbee soon moved to Milwaukee to start a successful 16-year lawsuit against segregation in the public schools. He also got elected to the Sta