NEWS OFF THE CUFF
Black Public Historian Reggie Jackson “IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO BREAK MILWAUKEE AND IT WILL TAKE A LONG TIME TO FIX MILWAUKEE” BY TOM JENZ
R
eggie Jackson calls himself a “public historian.” In his lectures, radio and television appearances, he educates his audiences on Black history and how American policy and social structure has often failed African Americans. He comes across soft-spoken but certain like a favorite teacher.
You’ve become Milwaukee’s resident intellectual on civil rights and diversity. You’re a writer, speaker, and consultant. You appear in print, on radio and television. How did you end up in this position? Tell me about your history. I was born in 1965 in a segregated hospital in Charleston, Mississippi on the northern edge of the Mississippi Delta. In 1973 when I was eight, my family moved to Milwaukee for the good jobs. I was a very quiet kid but curious. My favorite books were the Curious George series and the encyclopedia. I’d go to people’s houses not to play with their children but to read their books. We lived on 18th and Meinecke and then we moved to 14th and Ring. the central city, almost all Black residents. I attended Parkman Middle School and then Milwaukee Tech on the
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Photo by Tom Jenz.
