[Music] in the 1960s milwaukee was divided the black community lived in the north the white in the south the 16th street viaduct was the bridge that connected the two communities but more than just a river separated them things were getting tense the inner core was falling apart and families were left with few options the black community was hurting something had to give two people bravely stepped up to lead the way vel phillips and father james graffey were an unlikely pair of heroes belle's story is a tale of first she became the first african-american woman to become a milwaukee alderwoman and to introduce a fair housing law wilson i just didn't see why [Music] i should not be able to live anywhere in the city that i could afford to live james grappy put himself through seminary school driving buses while few others bothered to listen to the troubles of the inner core this bus driver lent an ear the words of the people went straight to his heart when someone black came to me and said look father they won't rent to me beyond 27th street at that time what did you want me to do as a white priest in henderson parish now that was my fight he was not the man who kenneled the fire he was the one who kept the lid on it that's the reason milwaukee didn't burn father grappy joined the struggle for civil rights in milwaukee their weapons weren't bullets or bombs they fought by marching a lot of marching the two started with big steps vel proposed a new citywide fair housing law but it was rejected on a 20-1 vote father grappy became the naacp youth council advisor the group picketed white only establishments held prayer vigils and sang christmas carols to those who didn't think they'd make good neighbors in the summer of 67 cities all over the country including milwaukee had violent riots the streets seemed too dangerous for anyone anywhere on august 28 1967 father grappy led the first small group of marchers through thousands of hostile people groppy announced we'll uh will never stop until we get complete human dignity we're going to get fair housing legislation in the city of milwaukee we're going to walk till our faith tired then we're going to walk on our ankles [Applause] for 200 days they marched through angry crowds tear gas and violent outbreaks the marchers dedication to their cause was stronger than all of these martin luther king jr sent a telegram to father grappy you are demonstrating that it is possible to be militant and powerful without destroying life or property please know that you have my support and prayers in 1968 martin luther king jr's assassination brought together blacks and whites it was time in washington dc president lyndon johnson signed a national fair housing law so that people could live where they want to live after that the city of milwaukee passed vel phillips fair housing law too [Music] took a long time simply because it was new it was controversial it was political and it was just difficult but we did it we just go with the declaration of independence in the united states constitution we got everything to work with [Music] after years of struggle by the people of milwaukee the city was finally starting to come together [Music]