Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

Your neighborhood. Your News.

Milwaukee NNSnewsMilwaukee NNSSearch
Subscribe to NNS today!
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    • Arts and Recreation
    • Community
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Health and Wellness
    • Housing
    • Public Safety
    • NNS Spotlight
    • Special Report
  • Posts From Community
    • Submit a Story
  • Community Voices
  • How To
  • Multimedia
    • NNS Local Video
    • Photos
    • NNS on Lake Effect
    • NNS WGLB 1560 Radio
  • Subscribe
  • Donate
  • About
    • Staff
    • Partners
    • News 414
    • The neighborhoods we cover
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

Diederich College of Communication, Marquette University


Language: English English Spanish Spanish

You are here: Home / News / Arts and Recreation / Civil rights murals mark entry to new Harambee park

Civil rights murals mark entry to new Harambee park

November 13, 2015 by Karen Slattery 1 Comment

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

Fidel Verdin was tired of looking at vacant lots in the Harambee neighborhood so he decided to do something about it.

The neighborhood resident organized an effort to create a park on an empty lot on the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and West Ring Street.

Named Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Place, the park is a site for public art, educational programs and urban agriculture.

A mural depicting 1960s civil rights activists demonstrating for fair housing in Milwaukee stands at the entry to the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Place. (Photo by Karen Slattery)

A mural depicting 1960s civil rights activists demonstrating for fair housing in Milwaukee stands at the entry to the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Place. (Photo by Karen Slattery)

“This is an open-source learning space that will be ever-evolving,” Verdin said. “Our big thing is educating the community about different ways to activate areas in their neighborhoods.”

Two large murals mark the park’s entryway. Each depicts the struggle for fair housing laws in the city. The works, by artists Nicolas Lampert and Paul Kjelland, were formally presented to the public in a recent ceremony, featuring appearances by the widow of Fr. James Groppi, Peggy Rozga, Milwaukee Commandos leader Prentice McKinney and Claudette Harris, another veteran of the civil rights movement.

The park was made possible through a team effort that included representatives from Summer of Peace, HeartLove Place, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Groundwork Milwaukee, the City of Milwaukee’s Home Gr/Own initiative, Walnut Way, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Community Design Solutions and Architecture 350) and Growing Power.

Supporting partners include the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Zilber Family Foundation, David J. Frank Landscape, Northwestern Mutual and Fund for Lake Michigan. A Bloomberg Award for Partners for Places also helped to make the space appealing to the public.

“This was just an abandoned green space for 20-plus years,” Verdin said. “I want the young people in the neighborhood to understand that, with a determined idea, you can take nothing and create something.”

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin

Filed Under: Arts and Recreation, Carousel, Harambee, Home, Neighborhoods, News, North

About Karen Slattery

Comments

  1. Romualdas Stanenas says

    June 13, 2016 at 10:39 pm

    Milwaukee could off set the abandoned buildings that draw criminal activity to these sites to become active sites for art and food grown with play ground art and food centers of ecology. Mikwaukee could eliminate each abondoned building Into an ecosystem beneficial for the community celebrating art, culture, and food centers.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Recent News

Community First hires two developers, makes plans to serve more residents

OPINION: An open letter to the police chief: Surveillance and profiling are the not the building blocks for police reform

Post from Community: Looking for a job? Here are some opportunities.

Advertisement
Give today to support our mission. Donate to Milwaukee NNS.
Advertisement

News

  • Arts and Recreation
  • Economic Development
  • Education
  • Health and Wellness
  • Housing
  • Public Safety
  • NNS Spotlight
  • Special Reports

Engage with us

  • Posts from Community
  • Community Voices
  • Submit a Story

About NNS

  • Milwaukee NNS Staff
  • Partners
  • News414
  • The neighborhoods we cover
  • Careers
  • Terms of use
  • Advertise

Connect with us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS feed

Communities

Contact

mailing address
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Diederich College of Communication
Marquette University
1131 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Johnston Hall 430
Milwaukee, WI 53233

email
info@milwaukeenns.org

phone & fax
PHONE: 414.604.6397 FAX: 414.288.6494


Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service is a project of Diederich College of Communication and Marquette University.
© 2020 Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Terms of use.
1131 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee WI 53233 • info@milwaukeenns.org

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in