Bronzeville, a Colony in Milwaukee

“Then will gifts be brought to the Lord of Hosts from a people tall and bronzed...”                       Isaiah:18-Ethiopia

Bronzeville, Milwaukee, is located in the central city.  It was an African American neighborhood, a community with famous jazz clubs, bars, stores, barber shops, and churches.  African Americans were segregated living in Bronzeville and were not allowed to live in white neighborhoods.  Famous Black entertainers were not admitted to white hotels.  The Boston Braves, when they moved to Milwaukee, purchased a house in Bronzeville for their Black ball players.  Probably Paul Robeson lived in Bronzeville when he played pro football for the Milwaukee Badgers football team.

Lincoln Charles Valles came to Milwaukee from Chicago in 1908 for the purpose of establishing a Black Catholic community.  Mr. Valle, with the approval and help of Archbishop Sebastian Messmer and the follow-up assistance of Jesuit and Capuchin friars, founded Saint Benedict the Moor Mission, the forerunner of Saint Benedict the Moor Day and Boarding School.

Among the churches in Bronzeville was Saint Benedict the Moor, sponsored by the Capuchin Fathers.  The church complex included a boarding school and a hospital.  Henry Aaron’s oldest children were born at the hospital, Saint Anthony’s. 

Artist Unknown

Parishioners, Bonny and Pedro Cardona, owned a jazz night club in Bronzeville.  Their great granddaughter, Alisha Brockton, was a leading scorer on Marquette’s women’s basketball team.  Parishioner, Wesley Graham, remembered seeing Olympic champion, Ralph Metcalf, jogging from Bronzeville to the Marquette campus. 

Among the historic treasures at the church of Saint Benedict the Moor is a mural behind the altar depicting a 'black on black' massacre in Uganda in a battle over colonization.  The black martyrs look up to a Madonna. 

Pastor John Celichowski suggested to the artist restoring the mural to make the Madonna’s face darker and he did so. The church has carved friezes depicting black people. One frieze shows Saint Peter Claver ministering to black slaves recently arrived from Africa. 

Is there hope?  Can colonization move on from here?  Let us remember Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream and Isaiah reminded us of Emanuel, that God is with us.