Weekend Special Focus Edition

T H E W K N D S P E C I A L F O C U ST H E W K N D S P E C I A L F O C U S

IRENE GOGGANSIRENE GOGGANST h e G r i o t o f O u r C o m m u n i t y

VOL. XXXII NO. 47 MAY 8, 2015 50 CENTS BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN PERMIT 4668

“Many of us clip and save articles, with plans to review and determine howto make worth of the thingsthat happen daily. HonoraryDoctor Irene Bishop Gogganshas made her collections aduty, a collective, a visualhistory of her beloved community and for that weTHANK HER.....WE CONGRATULATE HER ....WE APPLAUD HER.”

The WKND Special Focus May 8, 2015 Page 2

WKNDWKNDPhone: 414-265-5300 (Advertising and Administration) • 414-265-6647 (Editorial) • Website: communityjournal.net • Email: [email protected]/[email protected]

Opinion and comments expressed on the Perspectives page do not nec-essarily reflect the views of the publisher or management of the MCJ. Let-ters and “other perspectives” are accepted but may be edited for contentand length.

MCJ STAFF:Patricia O’Flynn -PattilloPublisher, CEORobert J. ThomasAssoc. PublisherTodd Thomas, Vice Pres.Mikel Holt, Assoc. PublisherThomas E. Mitchell, Jr., EditorKia Marie Green, Mang. EditorTeretha Martin, Technical Consultant/WebmasterJosephine Joki, Billing Dept./Publisher’s Admin. Assist.

Colleen Newsom,Classified AdvertisingJimmy V. Johnson, Sales Rep.Joan Hollingsworth, Sales Rep.CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:Taki S. Raton,Rev. Roxanne Cardenas,Troy A. Sparks,Sports EditorPHOTOGRAPHER: Yvonne Kemp

FOCUS

Special WKND Focus on...

IRENE GOGGANSIRENE GOGGANSOUR Community’sGRIOT!

“One woman’s throw-away is another woman’streasure” is an old sayingthat describes creatingvalue by collecting, re-cy-cling and preserving.

Preservation is significantly appropriatewhen thinking of the new 2015 Honorary Doc-torate of Community History recipient, IRENEBISHOP GOGGANS, who will be acknowl-edged during graduation ceremonies, Sunday,May 17, 2015, by the Board of Regents and theChancellor of University of Wisconsin-Milwau-kee.

The ceremony will be held at the UW Panther Arena,400 W. Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at 1:30p.m in the afternoon. Honorary Degree recipient, Gog-gans understood that news, even old news is valuable.News is history! And “her-story” about Milwaukee is visi-ble and touchable through clippings and postings, repre-

By Patricia O’Flynn Pattillo

Icontinued on page 3)


senting over 60 plus years.Community History, the

honor for which Dr. Gog-gans is being robed, ismore than articles and clip-pings and photos.

Community History ispeople, happenings, con-cerns, photographs, issues,legislation and affirmationsand confirmations.

Community History is a li-brary of events, births,deaths, marches, gradua-tions, elections, politicalmusings, legislative out-comes, editorials, perspec-tives, reactions, remarksand opinions.

Irene Bishop Gogganshas earned, unilaterally, thehonor of being a curator ofMilwaukee’s Black history.Her scrapbooks, photo al-bums, pasted papers,sticky notes and boxes ofmemorabilia are unprece-

dented. Using a prism ofchange, review, and ques-tions about actions that de-manded follow-up, are nowa collection of history.

Newspapers, televisionmorgues, and libraries area treasury of information,yet the perspective of thisLincoln High School gradu-ate, who came to Milwau-kee in 1942, fromDyersburg, Tennessee, isuniquely pertinent, for itspeaks to an unparalleledera in Milwaukee’s history.

Dr. Goggans’ collectionreveals what she viewed assignificant; and reflects thelives of many African Amer-icans of that period.

An elder in Milwaukeetoday, Dr Goggans’ life in-cludes her marriage to hus-band, ‘Pat’, in 1947, whowas employed at theUnited States Post Office,and worked from the Third

Street Office ( now KingDrive ).

“Pat” Goggans wasknown by many, as he ob-served, walked and deliv-ered mail to this growingpopulace from rural Amer-ica.

As conscientious parentsof their son, Kenneth, edu-cated in the MilwaukeePublic schools, they werevery involved in church,sports and community.Personally, and as a cou-ple, they belonged to and

volunteered in a number offledgling civic, political, so-cial, religious and educa-tional organizations, thatmade for a unique purviewfrom which to witness themany changes in the Cityof Milwaukee.

Irene Bishop Gogganshas chronicled and col-lected tediously throughout.Inspired after meeting AlexHaley, the author of“Roots”, whose iconic workwas influenced by his ex-periences as a child in Dy-ersburg, Tennessee, Dr.Goggans was fueled tobegin to record ‘her-story”,through articles and photo-graphs.

Called upon often, today,to review different individu-als, to refresh the se-quence of events on agiven subject, or to reflectupon quotes from personal-ities on specific-issues orperiods, Mrs. Goggans is aliving library who remem-bers and quickly correctsmisinterpretations and mis-guided recalls.

She is a living legend, acommunity treasure.

With a plethora of years’information on Integration,Busing, DeFacto Segrega-tion and day by day ac-countings of the marchesfor open housing; Father

In Loving Memory

Quality Service...a tenured tradition

sincere concern at your time of need.

Offering pre-need, at need andafter-care services to families in

Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha andother communities

throughout our state.Ernestine O’Bee, Founder J.C. Frazier, Funeral Director

Milwaukee6630 W. Hampton Avenue

Milwaukee, WI 53218Telephone: (414) 462-6020

Fax: (414) 462-9937

Racine800 Barker St.

Racine, WI 53402Telephone: (262) 637-6400

Fax: (262) 637-6416

Families served by:Northwest Funeral Chapel O’Bee, Ford & Frazier

Rogers, Nancy M.Age 80 yrs. April 29, 2015. Funeral services will be heldon Wednesday, May 6 at 1PM. Visitation Wednesday 12Noon until time of services at:

Northwest Funeral ChapelO'Bee, Ford & Frazier6630 W. Hampton Ave. (414)462-6020

Northern, NaomiAge 82 yrs. April 30, 2015. Funeral services will be heldon Tuesday, May 5 at 1PM. Visitation Tuesday 12 Noonuntil time of services at;


Kearney, Moses M.Age 60 yrs. April 23, 2015. A Memorial Service will beheld on Friday, May 8 at 6PM at:


Smaglick, Donna L.Age 62 yrs. April 27, 2015. Funeral services will be heldon Wednesday, May 6 at 11AM. Visitation Wednesday10AM until time of services at:


Hall, Claretha M.Age 85 yrs. April 26, 2015. Funeral services will be heldon Tuesday, May 5 at 11AM at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church1717 W. Meinecke Ave. Visitation Tuesday 10AM at theCHURCH until time of services. The family is served by:


Blanks, Roosevelt Jr.Age 76 yrs. April 28, 2015. Funeral services will be heldon Wednesday, May 6 at 11AM at Bethel Baptist Church2030 W. North Ave. Visitation Wednesday 10AM at theChurch until time of services. The family is served by:


Adams, Edward L.Age 54 yrs. April 28, 2015. Beloved father of CarmenCadotte and Romond Jackson. Loving son of BerniceAdams. Brother of Johnny Adams, Dorothy Adams, AliceAdams, Debora Adams, Sondra(Rick)Barnett, Vincent(Valecia) Adams and Marcus(Sheila)Adams. Also survivedby 3 grandchildren and a host of other loving relativesand friends. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday,May 5 at 12 Noon at St. Paul Worship Center 2661 N.53rd St. Visitation Tuesday 10AM at the CHURCH untiltime of services. The family is served by:


Green, Reginald S. Sr. Age 58 years. May 1, 2015. Beloved husband of Sharon(Walker) Green. Loving father of Perry II (Monique)Green, and Reginald Green Jr. Protective brother ofYvonne (Andrew) Hopgood, Valerie (Arthur) Lee, Anita(Samuel) Johnson, Rae Green, Shawn Green and Mary(Hoyt) Mahaley. Also survived by a host of other lovingrelatives and friends. Funeral services will be held on Fri-day, May 8, 2015, 11AM at New Testament Church of Mil-waukee, 10201 W. Bradley Rd. Milwaukee, WI. In stateFriday 9AM at the CHURCH until time of services. Thefamily is served by:


IRENE GOGGANS(continued from page 2)

(continued on page 4)


James Groppi, the Com-mandos, the roles of Atty.Vel Phillips, Atty. Lloyd Bar-bee, Monroe Swan, Repre-sentative Annette ‘Polly’Williams, Marcia Coggs,Isaac Coggs. Others likeOrville Pitts, Terrence Pitts,Sergeant Felmers Chaney,Leroy Jones are shown.

Personal friends likeMarie Gaines, Ruby Young,Bernice Thomas and otherY’s Menettes, who soldbricks and Fashion Fairtickets for memberships forthe North Central YMCAare a book.

We Milwaukeean giantslike Robert Starms andWesley Scott and CalBeckett, who mentored oth-ers like Ben Johnson andMarlene Johnson, HowardFuller, Robert Thomas,Curtiss Harris and Jerrel

Jones and his Mother,Mary Ellen, are there.

Sororities, fraternities, so-cial clubs, business ownerslike Ernestine O’Bee, BeaChilds and Virtrue Lyday,Martha Toran and Vi Harris,with the games/machinesand juke boxes.

Milwaukee’s social lifewith musings from Mat-tibelle Woods are touching.Debutante Balls and Galasand Dances for scholar-ships are there, also.Many photos by HarryKemp say a thousandwords.

Day Care centers withhelp from Edith Finlaysonand Lorraine Carter andFrances Starms, in earlychildhood education.Nurses, Ruth Tucker, Dr.Patricia Mc Mannus andLillie O’Bee, among others.The arts, Ko-Thi, African

American Children’s Cen-ter, Inner City Arts, Flo-rence Dukes and EvelynTerry or Dr. JamesCameron and Clay Ben-son.

The medical communityincluding Dr. John Terry, Dr.Leroy Mitcham, Dr. Bill Fin-layson and Dr. Randy Pol-lard, Dr. Roland Pattillo andDr. John Ridley and Dr.Peter Murrell, are earlypractitioners.

Love’s Liquor stores andHall’s Beauty supply, andbarber shops and beautyshops like Hattie’s whomoved to Capitol Court, afirst for a Black business.North Milwaukee StateBank and Columbia Sav-ings and Loan, Mrs. ArdieHalyard and Carter Insur-ance and Carter DrugStores, Dr. Goggans hasclippings about them all..

Realtors, Beechie Brooksand Robert Mays, LutherGolden, Claude Baldwinand Edward Smyth brokehousing racial bearers, Dr.Goggans shows the move-ment of Blacks from WalnutStreet to everywhere today.

Service stations, and gro-cery stores, Lena’s andBlack Gem, Malone’sSausage, and T.V repairshops and LeRoy’s Jewel-ers plus Fowlkes Furnitureon Third Street, before the1967 riots.

Ebony Cue and Robby’sDrive In, and the first McDonald’s on 9th and NorthAvenue. Soul food restau-rants like Mrs. CharityChurch’s place, on Fond du

Lac Avenue....the fore-run-ner to today’s Sweetie’ Piesphenomenon., ask aboutthem. “We had jobs, manyjobs”, Dr. Goggans reports!

Many bars, Alfie’s andDonald Jackson’s, eateries,including Mc Coy’s bak-eries and coffee shops,storefront churches andlarger congregations likeCalvary, Metropolitan andSt. Marks, St. Matthew, Mt.Moriah, Ephesians; and AllSaints, and IncarnationLutheran, are shown as thepopulation continued togrow.

And yes, crime, rob-beries, prison terms, drugs,

IRENE GOGGANS(continued from page 3)



and a changing diaspora also take a book or two. No,it’s not like it did not exist..it’s just that they were infre-quent and far between, remember Alderman McGee’s“Guns Buy Back”. Still graduations and job placementsand upward mobility were more the norm than the excep-tion. Dr. Goggans has witnessed it all.

She chronicled it all; and she has much to say aboutwhat she thinks we should be doing. Indeed she’searned her elder-position and the accolades of all whonow honor her.

Integration of the city buses, promotions of the mail-men, the first Black County Supervisor, and SupervisorBernice Rose, State Representative, Marcia Coggs as-cending her husband after his death, a first for a Black fe-male, the election of her daughter to the County Board,the State Representative seat, the loss for State Senatorbut the election of her cousin to the City Treasurer, andher cousin with a stronghold on the State Legislature;Judge Clarence Parrish and Senator Gary George, shehas this and all of the other offices in between. IreneBishop Goggans posted and recorded it.

The scrapbooks take up loads of space but the mentalrecall by this community treasure is most enthusiasticand more passionate in explaining the history than anybook or paper or clipping shall ever portray. She is awalking book..a lover of life!

Deaths, obituaries, community losses are recorded withgrief stricken sensitivity, particularly for many exemptedattempts, projects and initiatives that were projected tomake significant changes in the city of Milwaukee.

This historian not only recorded it, she shared her per-sonal perspective on it. Valuable, treasures, indeed:Doctor Irene Bishop Goggans. We salute our pre-server...home librarian...historian!

Many of us clip and save articles, with plans to reviewand determine how to make worth of the things that hap-pen daily.

Honorary Doctor Irene Bishop Goggans has made hercollections a duty, a collective, a visual history of herbeloved community and for that we THANK HER.....WECONGRATULATE HER ....WE APPLAUD HER.

DR. IRENE BISHOP GOGGANS, COMMUNITY HIS-TORIAN

IRENEGOGGANS(continued from page 4)



www.communityjournal! YOUR www.communityjournal! YOUR online source for INFORMATION, online source for INFORMATION,

EDUCATION AND INSPIRATION!EDUCATION AND INSPIRATION!



WWW.COMMU-NI-TYJOURNAL.NETINFOR-MATIONEDUCA-TIONINSPI-RA-TION......ON-LINE!

Documents

Weekend Special Focus Edition