Milwaukee residents discuss the city's racial problems, 1965

Attitude study among negro and white residents in the Milwaukee negro residential areas

In 1965, the Milwaukee Journal conducted a study of residents in Milwaukee's predominantly African American neighborhoods to determine how blacks and whites felt about particular problems facing the black community. Interviewers questioned 500 people, 400 black and 100 white, with questions that focused on individual attitudes toward Milwaukee's education system, police department, and transportation, as well as more serious problems such as housing segregation, the lack of job opportunities, and overall treatment by white residents. Its various "Verbatim Comments" sections preserve the insights and opinions of hundreds of Milwaukee residents whose voices would otherwise be lost to history. The report takes care to note that questions were rewritten and reviewed by African American community leaders in order to remove any sense of racial bias or preference. Published in October of 1965, the 200-page study provides one of the clearest windows into daily life for African Americans in Milwaukee. It is reproduced here through the generosity of Journal Sentinel Inc.

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