Madison in the 1960s – December 1963 – Shirley Abrahamson helps Madison make civil rights history.
In 1963, racial discrimination in housing in Wisconsin was perfectly legal and very real. Only about 27% of the city’s rental units and 12% of the houses for sale were available to non-whites.
The city didn’t even have a significant board or commission that advocated civil rights. Instead, there was the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission (MCHR), which the council launched in 1952 as a powerless consolation prize for activists after its proposed fair housing ordinance was finally rejected.
In February 1962, Atty. Lloyd Barbee, president of the state-run NAACP and chairman of the Mayo Commission, released a draft of a strict human rights ordinance outlawing bias about housing, employment and public housing. But it wasn’t going anywhere, and Barbee soon moved to Milwaukee to launch a successful 16-year lawsuit against segregation in the public schools. He was also elected to the State Assembly.
In 1963, Marshall Colston, chairman of the local NAACP and vice chairman of the mayors’ committee, took up the fight and urged Mayor Henry Reynolds, a conservative businessman, to move the matter forward.
Not everyone agreed. “Colston and others like him are making a big hullabaloo about a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Darwin Scoon, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Realtors Association. Homeowners should be able to sell or not sell to anyone they choose, he said.[i]
Even as Scoon campaigned for private property rights, racial unrest simmered in the Middle East when it became known that a second black family might be moving into a neighborhood. Several months of anonymous threats resulted in increased police surveillance.[ii]
Opponents of open housing construction said the city did not have the authority to issue such an ordinance until prosecutor Edwin Conrad issued a legal opinion that “the importance of the civil war and the cause of the Union’s death” is equality, and therefore the right to it promote City could regulate private property and issue fair housing ordinance.
District Attorney Edwin Conrad began drafting an ordinance and worked closely with a young attorney serving on the Mayors’ Committee – the future Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Shirley S. Abrahamson. Both Colston and Abrahamson had been appointed to the commission by the former mayor, the liberal Ivan Nestingen.
Although the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission was largely toothless, it had some very active members, notably Chairman John McGrath and Secretary Betty MacDonald. They formed a group they called the Tuesday Night Committee to coordinate public support. Several hundred people were actively involved.[iii]
Such citizen activism was key. Mayor Reynolds would be a major supporter, but he did not initiate the effort; Neither does Alder. Without NAACP’s Lloyd Barbee and Marshall Colston, the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission, and the Tuesday Night Committee, Madison wouldn’t have acted, if it had acted – if it acted at all.
This broad base was necessary because the real estate industry – which was so supportive of segregated homes that the Realtors Board disciplined members who sold homes in white neighborhoods to black buyers – mobilized to fight the local supply of fair housing, just as it did the later covenant did an effort.
December 10, 1963 was United Nations Human Rights Day. It wasn’t a good night for human rights in Madison.
At that time, the Council met on Tuesday as a full committee for public hearings, debates and a preliminary vote with final votes on Thursday.
More than four hundred people packed the council chambers that evening for a six-hour meeting of the full committee, which was devoted exclusively to the equality ordinance. Supporters were far more numerous than opponents – except from the real estate industry.[iv]
The only broker to back this up was future governor Patrick J. Lucey, owner of Madison’s largest real estate company. “The negroes here are the victims of a vicious and effective conspiracy, a shame for which we must all share the guilt, ”he said.[v]
South side of Ald. Harold “Babe” Rohr was not influenced. Calling the NAACP “a malevolent force” even though his district comprised more than 55 percent of Madison’s black population, he stated, “Let’s face it, the world is built on prejudice and discrimination.”
Rohr, also the powerful head of the painters’ association, won. After almost two hours of debate, the alders between 12 and 10 voted to remove all housing supplies.[vi]
Fair Housing advocates had forty-two hours to change at least one vote so Mayor Reynolds could break an 11-11 tie.[vii]
It was the first and only female member of the council, Tenth Ward Ald. Ethel Brown, who made the critical compromise – exempting rooms in private homes and condominiums with four or fewer units. West side of Ald. William Bradford Smith later said Brown’s idea was not only tactical but also “reflected the attitudes of its constituents” in University Heights. Many of them rented rooms to UW students, Smith noted, but “wouldn’t want to open their homes to people of all races and colors who would have to share the same bathroom.”[viii]
Brown’s amendment was quickly adopted. But then more changes were passed that exempted all absent rental homes and all single-family homes from coverage – so many exemptions that proponents considered getting the matter under control completely.
Then an unexpected savior appeared. Fair Housing Enemy Ald. Bruce Davidson limited the exemptions to owner-occupied buildings only – more than doubling the number of units covered and increasing the number of homes and apartments non-whites could live in in Madison by more than 9,000. His amendment contained 20-2 without debate. Still, he voted against the regulation.[ix]
Far East side Ald. George Reger, who voted no on Tuesday, now voted in favor and created an 11:11 tie that Reynolds broke with an emphatic “yes”. Madison made history with the passage of the state’s first fair living ordinance.[x]
The ordinance made it illegal to refuse to sell, rent, lease, or finance homes based on race, color, creed, or origin, with three major exceptions for certain condos – single-family homes, homes with no more than four roomers, and apartment buildings with four units or less.
With the new ordinance still clearing more than 23,000 residential units – about 60 percent of the city’s housing stock – those in favor of open flats were held back in their celebration that night. But privately they were enthusiastic.
Ald. Rohr, the fiercest opponent of fair living, thought Thursday night was an overwhelming success, but Friday brought an uncomfortable understanding of what had happened. When he reads the full account of what has finally passed, he is appalled.
“My God!” he calls out. “I had no idea what we voted for last night.”
Two weeks later, Mayor Reynolds named the founding members of the Equal Opportunities Commission, including members of the Human Rights Commission McGrath, MacDonald and the Rev. James C. Wright. He did not appoint Abrahamson or Colston.[xi]
And that’s Madison this week in her sixties. For your award winning, masked, hand washed, socially distant WORD news team, I’m Stu Levitan.
Edwin Stein Photo, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives. WHi-ID 137633
[i] Roger Gribble, “NAACP Leaders, Real Estate Agents Disagree on Housing Bias,” WSJ, July 25, 1963; “City, Scoon on Opportunities for Discrimination in the City,” DC, July 25, 1963.
[ii] David Gordon, “Troubles” Possible, City Rights Group Told, WSJ, July 25, 1963; Editorial, “Citizenship: Everyone’s Concern,” WSJ, August 1, 1963; Kirkhorn, “How long will Madison negroes feel biased?” CT August 6, 1963; “Realtors Take a New Look at Housing,” WSJ, Aug. 9, 1963.
[iii] “Rev. Pritchard Emphasizes Church’s Anti-Bias Steps, ”CT October 7, 1963; “First Methodist Church Supports Fair Living,” CT October 15, 1963; League of Women Voters Supports Open Housing Policy, CT, October 29, 1963; Gribble, “Help With Anti-Bias Law, Church Groups Urged,” WSJ, Nov. 12, 1963; Richard Brautigam, “250 Taking Congregation Vows in Support of the City’s Prohibition on Discrimination,” CT, Nov. 14, 1963; “The Group Will Call for the Passing of the City Fair Living Act,” WSJ, Nov. 16, 1963; “WSA Promotes Madison Anti-Bias Regulation; Urges Action, ”DC, December 7, 1963; “Bishops, 29 Priests Support Law on Rights,” CT, December 10, 1963; Doyle, “Conversation with Betty MacDonald,” 5-11; Doyle, “Conversation with John McGrath,” 26–33.
[iv] Brautigam, “Jam-Packed Rights Debate Is Fierce But Neat,” CT, Dec. 11, 1963; Doyle, “Conversation with Betty MacDonald,” 12–17; Doyle, “Conversation with John McGrath,” 26–35.
[v] “Know Your Madisonian – Patrick J. Lucey,” WSJ, Sep. 1, 1963; “City brokers are studying open housing; Indicates Coolness for Prescription, ”CT October 22, 1963; Havens Wilber, “Local Brokers Requested to Develop Anti-Bias Policies,” CT, October 24, 1963; Kirkhorn, “Broker Not Consulted on Bias Ads,” CT, December 7, 1963; “Fair Housing Unit Answers Realtors”, CT, December 9, 1963; “The Role of Brokers in the Trend Hit by a NAACP Official,” CT, December 10, 1963; John T. Aehl, “Rights Debate Draws Large Crowds,” WSJ, Dec. 11, 1963.
[vi] Gordon, “Keep Housing Section of Rights Bill Dies,” WSJ, Dec. 11, 1963; John T. Aehl, “Rights Debate Attracts Large Crowds,” WSJ, Dec. 11, 1963; Stu Chapman, Housing Decision Postponed, DC, December 11, 1963; Brautigam, “Opposes City Action Against Housing Rights,” CT, December 11, 1963; Aehl, “CORE Bias-Testing Procedure Contested in the Council Hearing,” WSJ, December 12, 1963.
[vii] Fire Point, “Rights Backers Hunt for Key ‘Swing’ Vote,” CT, Dec. 11, 1963; Editorial, “Council Agrees that” The World Is Built on Prejudice, “CT, Dec. 11, 1963; Editorial,” Will Madison Labor Support Rohr’s Position on Human Rights? “CT, Dec. 12, 1963; Editorial,” Could Vote Removing the Smear from Madison’s Prejudice, “CT, December 12, 1963.
[viii] William Bradford Smith, interviewed by Lorraine Orchard, 1989, Historic Madison, Inc. Oral History Project. [Gordon, “More Support Hinted on Rights Law Tonight,” WSJ, December 12, 1963; Feuerzeig, “Housing Rights Compromise to Be Introduced,” CT, December 12, 1963; “Final Rights Vote Due Today,” DC, December 12, 1963; Gordon, “More Support Hinted on Rights Law Tonight,” WSJ, December 12, 1963.
[ix] “The rapid fire action against the new law causes the town hall to repeal pieces”, WSJ, December 13, 1963; McGrath, Historic Madison.
[x] Gordon, “Amended Rights Law OKd,” WSJ, December 13, 1963; “Amended Fair Housing Rule Passes,” DC, Dec. 13, 1963; Brautigam, Amended Housing Bias Ban Approved, CT, December 13, 1963.
[xi] Named Equal Rights Unit; Council confirms decisions, WSJ, December 27, 1963.
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