Thanks to new businesses opening along North Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, as well as the new anchor development called The Griot – with apartments and a new home for America's Black Holocaust Museum on North Avenue – Bronzeville is booming these days.
Starting at Walnut Street, the historic heart of Milwaukee's Bronzeville – the borders of which were delineated by 1930s redlining maps – I walked around the neighborhood to talk about its history, the current landscape, interesting buildings and more ... and I ran into Dasha Kelly!
If you missed the Facebook live, fret not, as you can now watch it right here, too:
And watch for another Facebook live later this autumn as I walk the neighborhood again with Reggie Jackson, educator/consultant and head griot at America's Black History Museum, where we'll talk more about the roots of Bronzeville.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
