During the 1960's and 1970's Milwaukee's civil rights movement led by Italian-American Father James Groppi marched across the 16th St. bridge to demand equal housing for all of Milwaukee's citizen's. The 1/2 mile wide valley was a symbolic divide for the city.
James Groppi was born in the Bay View neighborhood on the South Side of Milwaukee, WI to Italian-immigrant parents. In June of 1959 Groppi was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood after studying at St. Francis Seminary in the Milwaukee suburb of St. Francis WI.
In 1965 he became the advisor to the Milwaukee chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and organized the Youth Council protests against the segregation of Milwaukee public schools.
In the summer of 1968 Latinos joined the NAACP's Youth Council which was led by Father Groppi and demonstrated outside Allen-Bradley, a company which employed few Latino or black workers.
Father Groppi organized the Milwaukee Commandos an all Black male group and demonstrated against the city of Milwaukee on behalf of fair housing.
In 1969 Father Groppi organized and led the "Welfare Mothers' March on Madison and protested planned welfare cuts.
Father Groppi who died in 1985 is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetary in Milwaukee and his papers are maintained at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
