Description
“WISCONSIN: Genuine American Segregation” (acrylic paint, oil/wax crayon, and pencil on heavy watercolor paper) draws on my memories of attending elementary school in 1960s Milwaukee, where racial segregation shaped daily life. The work confronts the enduring effects of redlining, restrictive housing covenants, and discriminatory lending practices that confined most Black residents to limited areas of the city. It also honors the civil-rights activists—among them Vel Phillips, Father James Groppi, CORE, and the NAACP Youth Council—whose sustained protests for fair housing challenged this system. Although these efforts helped secure fair-housing protections, Milwaukee remains deeply divided by the racial geography created through decades of deliberate discrimination.
