The police raid of the Stonewall Inn didn't go as expected.
It was 1969 and members of New York City's LGBTQ community were fed up with the arrests and harassment that had become common place.
Only on this night, police faced unprecedented resistance. Patrons and onlookers fought back and for days Greenwich Village was a riot zone that ultimately helped spark the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement and place the Stonewall on the National Register of Historic Places.
But eight years before Stonewall there was the Black Nite Uprising in downtown Milwaukee.
Only instead of police, it was servicemen who thought they could intimidate and beat some of the customers of the gay bar, located in the midst of a series of abandoned buildings that were slated to be torn down to make way for what is now Interstate 794.
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Led by Josie Carter, a 23-year-old who identified as a woman, the servicemen found themselves out matched. Customers fought back. And when police arrived, the only arrests were those of the bloodied servicemen.
And now, just like Stonewall, the site of the melee is getting its own historical marker to commemorate one of the early victories for the emerging LGBTQ rights movement in the U.S. The marker is part of a new initiative by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation to recognize the often times hidden history of marginalized people in the state.
"By the time of Stonewall, Milwaukee had something like 36 gay bars and its first gay rights organization," said Michail Takach, 50, a researcher and writer with the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project. "Things accelerated after the Black Nite. It just had to be such a flash of amazement that there were enough gay people to have their own spaces and that gay people didn't just get beat up and and beat down. They could fight back."
In 1982, Wisconsin became the first state in the nation to pass a law that made it illegal for state or private businesses to discriminate based on sexual orientation in employment and housing. The bi-partisan effort was led by Madison state representative David Clarenbach and signed by then Gov. Lee Dryfus. It would be nine more years before another state would adopt such protections, according to documents from the Milwaukee Public Library.
The site of the Black Nite has been a vacant lot for nearly 60 years but is now poised for redevelopment so it's unclear when the marker will be installed at the corner of St. Paul and Plankington avenues, just a few blocks from the Milwaukee Public Market.
But 13 others have already been installed around the state or are in the process of being developed, thanks to the Pomeroy Foundation, which works on a national level to fund historical marker projects and in 2021 granted the Historical Society $75,190 for more markers. The final phase of the project will fund another 12 markers in which community groups from around the state are being asked to submit applications with a focus on under represented people. They can include historical events or people related to African Americans, disability rights, Hmong, Latinos, the LGBTQ community, tribal nations and women.
Applications are due to the Historical Society by April 30 with the hopes of having markers installed in 2025. The Historical Society has been installing markers since 1951 and has studied its more than 600 markers scattered around the state to see where gaps exist in telling the state's stories.
"The markers are such a unique program because it is community led," said Mallory Hanson, the WHS's statewide services coordinator and who works with the markers program. "It's a wonderful way for organizations to share their stories and tell about events, individuals an anything that can resonate for that local, state or national significance to our state's diverse history."
In 2022, we told the story of one of the markers, placed outside the clubhouse of the Lake Ivanhoe Property Owners Association. The 46-acre Walworth County lake was home to the state's first Black-owned resort property and by the 1960s the development consisted of about 30 homes, most owned by African Americans looking for lake-life-living within a short drive of their Chicago area homes.
Another marker installed in 2022 was on Dairy Lane in State Fair Park in West Allis. It identifies the site of where ancestors of the Ho-Chunk constructed burial sites for loved ones in the form of mounds. The earthworks are among the last remaining in Milwaukee County and mark the location of a larger mound group that has been destroyed.
In far northern Wisconsin, a marker installed in October on Madeline Island in Lake Superior replaces a marker installed in 1961 that said French explorers had discovered the island. The new historical marker, which bears "Mooningwanekaaning," the Ojibwe name for Madeline Island, was developed using input from the Bad River and Red Cliff Ojibwe communities and recognizes the central role of Indigenous peoples in the island’s history.
“The Anishinaabeg have called this island home since time immemorial, and it is important that their story is shared today and for future generations,” Christian Overland, the Historical Society's director & CEO, said at the time.
Back in Milwaukee, a series of nine markers will help tell the stories of the Civil Rights marches. One has already been installed at the site of the now removed St. Boniface Catholic Church that was home to a predominantly Black congregation and which served as a hub during the 200 consecutive days of open housing marches from fall 1967 to spring 1968.
Three others are scheduled to be installed this spring. The 16th Street Viaduct marker will commemorate marches across the bridge in 1967 from the predominantly Black north side to the white south side. Marchers faced thousands of rioters who harassed and attacked them as they walked to Kosciuszko Park. The next night, the NAACP Youth Council held another march and faced up to 13,000 counter-protesters. The night ended with dozens of arrests and injuries but the marches sparked a movement that lasted for 200 consecutive nights, forcing the city to confront segregation.
Markers will also be placed at both the 5th Street and 15th Street Freedom House locations. In 1966, the Youth Council established a headquarters at 2026 N. 5th Street and in 1967 added a second house on 15th Street to expand operations. The homes are where the Youth Council planned marches and protests, including one focused on the Eagles Club’s whites-only policy.
“Markers help communities tell their stories," said Bill Pomeroy, founder and trustee of the Pomeroy Foundation. “They play an important role by preserving history, educating the public, encouraging pride of place, and promoting historic and cultural tourism.”
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Barry Adams covers regional news for the Wisconsin State Journal. Send him ideas for On Wisconsin at 608-252-6148 or by email at badams@madison.com.