Freddie Clark leaves Madison for his hometown Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Long time activist fades into the sunset — almost
Long time activist fades into the sunset — almost
During the 1960s and 1970s, Madison’s African American community was primarily based in South Madison due to the housing discrimination and racial
steering that occurred for decades before. Yet the businesses up and down Park Street had few African American employees. “Through the efforts of BPSA, we
were able to get more Blacks involved in the building trades as well as the Madison Fire Department,” Clark said. “In the early 1980s is when they got the first
Blacks on the fire department. I later received a national award in Houston, Texas for that. We later initiated a boycott of the Eagle Store that was on the corner
of Park St. and Badger Rd. As a result of that boycott, they did integrate that store. A number of other businesses on the south side came on board and started
hiring Blacks and minorities.”
One of the major contributors to the increased hiring of people of color was the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Program (CETA) that
funded employment and training programs during the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly in the building trades. But those avenues were closed down in the
1980s when the Reagan administration ended CETA and instituted the Job Training Partnership Act with significantly less funds.
Members of BPSA also used federal initiatives — and their affirmative action requirements — to break down employment barriers. “We had a lot of people
researching the requirements of the federal HUD projects that were coming in,” Clark said. “We had people researching the federal statutes as it relates to
highway construction. In all of those cases, they did require when federal money was involved representation of minority groups in the form of apprenticeships as
well as journeymen. Well, at that time, we had no journeymen. And so, we had to use those statutes and those regulations to guide us through that. One of the
biggest problems with the union was that they would say they couldn’t find any who would pass the test. Well after we did some research, we found that many of
those trades only required a ninth grade education. Many of the Blacks at that time were given misinformation as they applied for those opportunities.”
There were also problems of inequality in terms of what was sold in local food stores. “Kohls Food Store only started looking at minority hiring after they were
reprimanded by the state on a couple of occasions of price gouging poor people,” Clark said. “We found out, for example, that the Kohls located in the proximity
of low-income neighborhoods was far more expensive than those located for example, on the west side, the more well-to-do areas. And specifically, they were
more expensive on items that a lot of poor people were in need of like diapers and similac. We also demanded that they hire more Blacks in their stores as well,
specifically from the adjourning neighborhoods since they were getting a lot of their customers from those neighborhoods.”
And then there was education. In 1980, the Madison Metropolitan School District converted Lincoln Middle School into the present day elementary
school, thereby eliminating the only middle school program in South Madison. Dr. Richard Harris and others filed a federal lawsuit to reestablish the middle
school. For the next 10-15 years, controversy surrounded the make-up of the school buildings in South Madison. “Our kids were doing much better in our
communities than they were when they had to be bused across town,” Clark said about the pairing of Lincoln with Midvale and Franklin with Randall schools that
resulted from the discrimination case. “That was uneven because a lot of the Whites wanted to save their neighborhood schools at the expense of having Black
kids bused out to those schools. Very few Whites actually were bused into the south side. That is what led us to look deeper into the pairing process. And of
course, you know that the James C. Wright Middle School came on. It was initially thought that it would be a magnet for the well-to-do. But now I think it is
predominantly Black. Getting a school on the south side of Madison was a big issue at that time. We were able to force them to build the Wright Middle School
on the south side even though we would have preferred it to be a little further south. But it worked out okay in that regard.”
Clark observed that there isn’t the same kind of activism today, although the issues are still present. “We don’t see that type of leadership out of organizations
today,” Clark said. “In their own way, I’m sure it is difficult to keep the doors open and then having to receive funds from a lot of different sources that may prevent
them from pursuing different issues for fear that funding would be withdrawn. They never really got into the political arena even to the point of running voter
registration and education. We’re not talking about them actually endorsing candidates, but to be politically active in the sense that they give testimony to the
legislature or the city council. I don’t see them exhibiting that type of leadership when it comes to issues that affect those who live in impoverished communities.”
Last November, Clark left Madison to return to Baton Rouge to take care of his aging and ailing parents. Clark admitted that he missed Madison, but felt it was
important to care for his folks. “I’m what you would call a caretaker at this point,” Clark said. “That’s working out just fine. I was in a position to leave at that time
and come down and take care of my family. And I think that is what is happening to a lot of families right now. They are going home to take care of their family
just as their family took care of them in a time of need and got them to the point where they are. I didn’t have any reservations about that. It’s working out okay.
And the fact that we are all headed in that direction and I’m a senior myself, it gives me an opportunity to see what might lie down the road for me and how
these social services and social security work.”
Clark can’t help but speak up when he perceives that something is wrong. That old rabble rousing spirit remains deep in Clark’s soul. “I’ve become an
advocate for social security and Medicare down here,” Clark said. “A lot of insurance companies prey upon the poor and elderly. We have to be mindful of that
and we have to be their advocates at this stage in their lives.”
Clark admitted that he picks and chooses his battles these days. But Freddie Clark does what Freddie Clark does and he will remain a civil rights advocate to
the end.
steering that occurred for decades before. Yet the businesses up and down Park Street had few African American employees. “Through the efforts of BPSA, we
were able to get more Blacks involved in the building trades as well as the Madison Fire Department,” Clark said. “In the early 1980s is when they got the first
Blacks on the fire department. I later received a national award in Houston, Texas for that. We later initiated a boycott of the Eagle Store that was on the corner
of Park St. and Badger Rd. As a result of that boycott, they did integrate that store. A number of other businesses on the south side came on board and started
hiring Blacks and minorities.”
One of the major contributors to the increased hiring of people of color was the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Program (CETA) that
funded employment and training programs during the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly in the building trades. But those avenues were closed down in the
1980s when the Reagan administration ended CETA and instituted the Job Training Partnership Act with significantly less funds.
Members of BPSA also used federal initiatives — and their affirmative action requirements — to break down employment barriers. “We had a lot of people
researching the requirements of the federal HUD projects that were coming in,” Clark said. “We had people researching the federal statutes as it relates to
highway construction. In all of those cases, they did require when federal money was involved representation of minority groups in the form of apprenticeships as
well as journeymen. Well, at that time, we had no journeymen. And so, we had to use those statutes and those regulations to guide us through that. One of the
biggest problems with the union was that they would say they couldn’t find any who would pass the test. Well after we did some research, we found that many of
those trades only required a ninth grade education. Many of the Blacks at that time were given misinformation as they applied for those opportunities.”
There were also problems of inequality in terms of what was sold in local food stores. “Kohls Food Store only started looking at minority hiring after they were
reprimanded by the state on a couple of occasions of price gouging poor people,” Clark said. “We found out, for example, that the Kohls located in the proximity
of low-income neighborhoods was far more expensive than those located for example, on the west side, the more well-to-do areas. And specifically, they were
more expensive on items that a lot of poor people were in need of like diapers and similac. We also demanded that they hire more Blacks in their stores as well,
specifically from the adjourning neighborhoods since they were getting a lot of their customers from those neighborhoods.”
And then there was education. In 1980, the Madison Metropolitan School District converted Lincoln Middle School into the present day elementary
school, thereby eliminating the only middle school program in South Madison. Dr. Richard Harris and others filed a federal lawsuit to reestablish the middle
school. For the next 10-15 years, controversy surrounded the make-up of the school buildings in South Madison. “Our kids were doing much better in our
communities than they were when they had to be bused across town,” Clark said about the pairing of Lincoln with Midvale and Franklin with Randall schools that
resulted from the discrimination case. “That was uneven because a lot of the Whites wanted to save their neighborhood schools at the expense of having Black
kids bused out to those schools. Very few Whites actually were bused into the south side. That is what led us to look deeper into the pairing process. And of
course, you know that the James C. Wright Middle School came on. It was initially thought that it would be a magnet for the well-to-do. But now I think it is
predominantly Black. Getting a school on the south side of Madison was a big issue at that time. We were able to force them to build the Wright Middle School
on the south side even though we would have preferred it to be a little further south. But it worked out okay in that regard.”
Clark observed that there isn’t the same kind of activism today, although the issues are still present. “We don’t see that type of leadership out of organizations
today,” Clark said. “In their own way, I’m sure it is difficult to keep the doors open and then having to receive funds from a lot of different sources that may prevent
them from pursuing different issues for fear that funding would be withdrawn. They never really got into the political arena even to the point of running voter
registration and education. We’re not talking about them actually endorsing candidates, but to be politically active in the sense that they give testimony to the
legislature or the city council. I don’t see them exhibiting that type of leadership when it comes to issues that affect those who live in impoverished communities.”
Last November, Clark left Madison to return to Baton Rouge to take care of his aging and ailing parents. Clark admitted that he missed Madison, but felt it was
important to care for his folks. “I’m what you would call a caretaker at this point,” Clark said. “That’s working out just fine. I was in a position to leave at that time
and come down and take care of my family. And I think that is what is happening to a lot of families right now. They are going home to take care of their family
just as their family took care of them in a time of need and got them to the point where they are. I didn’t have any reservations about that. It’s working out okay.
And the fact that we are all headed in that direction and I’m a senior myself, it gives me an opportunity to see what might lie down the road for me and how
these social services and social security work.”
Clark can’t help but speak up when he perceives that something is wrong. That old rabble rousing spirit remains deep in Clark’s soul. “I’ve become an
advocate for social security and Medicare down here,” Clark said. “A lot of insurance companies prey upon the poor and elderly. We have to be mindful of that
and we have to be their advocates at this stage in their lives.”
Clark admitted that he picks and chooses his battles these days. But Freddie Clark does what Freddie Clark does and he will remain a civil rights advocate to
the end.
Tammy (l) and Ty (r) join their father Freddie Clark at
Clark’s going away party held at the Boys & Girls
Club
Clark’s going away party held at the Boys & Girls
Club
By Jonathan Gramling
Almost since there was a modern civil rights movement in Madison, Freddie Clark has been in the
thick of things. Clark left his native Baton Rouge, Louisiana during the height of the civil rights movement
in the 1960s and came to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Clark brought some of
that civil rights spirit with him. After Clark graduated, he remained in Madison, worked in various
employment and training capacities, raised a family — and did some rabble rousing to promote change
for the African American community starting in the early 1970s.
Rabble rousing was in order back then for Madison’s African American community faced blatant
discrimination on a number of fronts. Clark, along with Jerry Smith and Milton Donald, formed Blacks for
Political and Social Action (BPSA) to provide a voice and vehicle for promoting change in public
services, employment and education. “BPSA was an organization at that time that was well-known
throughout the Madison community and, in many cases, was feared because we were a direct-action
type of organization, yet we had a diversity of membership of the poor, middle class and professional
people,” Clark said during a phone interview with The Capital City Hues.
Almost since there was a modern civil rights movement in Madison, Freddie Clark has been in the
thick of things. Clark left his native Baton Rouge, Louisiana during the height of the civil rights movement
in the 1960s and came to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Clark brought some of
that civil rights spirit with him. After Clark graduated, he remained in Madison, worked in various
employment and training capacities, raised a family — and did some rabble rousing to promote change
for the African American community starting in the early 1970s.
Rabble rousing was in order back then for Madison’s African American community faced blatant
discrimination on a number of fronts. Clark, along with Jerry Smith and Milton Donald, formed Blacks for
Political and Social Action (BPSA) to provide a voice and vehicle for promoting change in public
services, employment and education. “BPSA was an organization at that time that was well-known
throughout the Madison community and, in many cases, was feared because we were a direct-action
type of organization, yet we had a diversity of membership of the poor, middle class and professional
people,” Clark said during a phone interview with The Capital City Hues.