OnMilwaukee is proud to highlight Black History Month in Milwaukee and beyond. Our goal is to highlight even more Black-owned businesses and stories – so for starters, click here to learn more about awesome Black-owned restaurants and businesses around town!
This article is reposted with permission from and in partnership with MKE Black.
Black History Month highlights achievements, creativity and history in the Black community. Milwaukee has an extensive Black history, which can be discovered virtually and in person.
Check out 60+ ways to celebrate Black history in the Milwaukee area in February and beyond.
1. Discover Black businesses to support by exploring the MKE Black directory
2. Attend America’s Black Holocaust Museum grand reopening
3. Discover local Black leaders in Milwaukee Public Library’s digital collection
4. Visit the Rescue of Joshua Glover Historical Marker
5. Learn what caused the 1967 Milwaukee Riots
6. Attend a film with Black Lens (Milwaukee Film)
7. Visit and shop at Sherman Phoenix
8. Stop by the George Marshall Clark gravesite, and learn his history
9. Donate to local charities dedicated to fighting injustice
10. Experience a “We Rise: MKE’s Celebration of Black History Month” event with the Milwaukee Rep
11. Learn about buildings designed by Alonzo Robinson, Milwaukee’s first registered Black architect
12. Read about the Dietz Home, a hotel for African Americans
13. Explore historical Black narratives through “Our Time Together“, at the Milwaukee Art Museum
14. Learn about Milwaukee’s Bronzeville history
15. Create spaces to amplify Black voices
16. Learn about local streets named after African Americans
17. Try the chicken and waffles at Coffee Makes You Black
18. Visit and shop at The Bronzeville Collective
19. Read the writing of local historian Reggie Jackson
20. Listen to local residents who met Dr. King (25:11)
21. Read about the “mother of the Black community“
22. Be an advocate for Black neighborhoods
23. Learn about Civil Rights in Milwaukee
24. Watch and unpack Milwaukee 53206
25. Read the Milwaukee Community Journal
26. Test your knowledge of Black Film Trivia at Company Brewing
27. Check out books about Black history at a Milwaukee Public Library
28. Explore the James Cameron Pamphlet Collection
29. Learn about historic Black figures
30. Read how the rise and fall of A.O. Smith impacted Milwaukee’s Black community
31. Dine at a soul food restaurant
32. Learn how redlining caused segregation in Milwaukee
33. Wander through the Wisconsin Black Historical Society
34. Read how Hank Aaron became Milwaukee’s first sports super star
35. Attend a virtual discussion on Black Love Matters
36. Purchase a Bronze Box
37. Shop and eat in Bronzeville
38. Mourn the loss of the Milwaukee Mall
39. Learn about Sully and Susanna Watson at the Milwaukee Public Museum
40. Become familiar with Dr. Carter
41. See The Watsons Go To Birmingham
42. Visit the Dr. King statue and learn more about his life
43. Purchase a book from Niche Book Bar
44. Dive into cultural dining experiences and diversity and inclusion conversations with Diverse Dining
45. Try your green thumb at Maranta Plant Shop
46. Support the Black community beyond Black History Month
47. Read how suburban housing racial covenants impacted segregation in Milwaukee County
48. Sing karaoke at On the Bayou
49. Shop Black businesses at the Milwaukee Winter Farmers Market
50. Walk through the Paramount Records Trail in Grafton
51. See the Richard and Erna Flagg Collection of Haitian Art at the Milwaukee Art Museum
52. Watch Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams
53. Explore the Negro Business Directory of Wisconsin
54. See Milwaukee Voices of Gun Violence
55. Get a cut at Gee’s Clippers
56. Discover murals in Black neighborhoods
57. Discover the Milwaukee’s earliest Black residents
58. Walk the Hank Aaron Trail
59. Grab a take-and-make Black History Month craft at the Wauwatosa Public Library
60. Learn about Milwaukee’s Black led urban farms: here, here, and here
61. Vote in the February 15th Spring Primary
62. Read My Granny Fought for Freedom
63. Participate in the Milwaukee Public Library Black History Month Reading Challenge
64. Purchase African American art at Greenwood Park Gallery & Framing
65. Download the MKE Black app