(soft acoustic music) (dynamic upbeat music) - Hello everyone, and welcome to "Black Nouveau".

I'm Earl Arms, and this is our March edition.

March, of course, is Women's History Month, and Dr. Sandra E. Jones, author of "Voices of Milwaukee Bronzeville," will tell us about three Black women who were instrumental in the building of Milwaukee's black community.

We'll also hear from Milwaukee's new poet laureate, Shelly Conley, and we'll remind you of why your support is so important to us as we continue to tell our own stories.

But first, we begin by introducing you to the Milwaukee Wine Academy, whose mission is to make the world of wine accessible and enjoyable.

(chill upbeat music) - Today, we are having our second annual Black Wine Producers class.

We had this last year in 2024 to kick off Milwaukee Wine Weekend, and we decided to do it again this year as part of our Black History Month events.

So, this is probably our largest event of the year.

We're expecting over 70 people.

Last year we had almost 90, and it's a celebration of black wine producers, black people involved in the wine industry, whether they are sommeliers, distributors, wine makers, wine growers, and all the things that help make wine so great.

In the United States, less than 2% of wine makers are black or African American, and globally, it's less than 1%.

There are a few black wine makers in Italy, in South Africa, Germany, France, et cetera, but the majority of black wine makers around the world are here in the United States, but there aren't very many, so being able to celebrate those people and their contributions to wine is so important, and to be able to do it in a city like Milwaukee that has such a rich black history and black culture makes it even better.

- Baker Family Wines, which many people don't know, MLB Lifer, player, manager Dusty Baker has his own winery.

James and I, like our co-founder, we just found this out in December of 2019.

We went to visit Dusty, actually, on some other business, and he took us to his winery.

We went out to dinner.

I just asked Dusty, I said, "Have you ever thought about having your wine distributed throughout the Midwest?"

He said, "Yes, I just don't know anybody who can do it."

And I said, "Well, James and I can do it," and that's what brings us here today.

Once we started doing some research, we found that obviously, there aren't many black wine distributors throughout the country, or alcohol distributors, period.

Black people in the wine and alcohol industry make up 2% of the owners and executives.

Once we found out and started doing some research, we saw that we would be the first black distributors in the state of Wisconsin.

And Dusty was very excited about that as well, and we're just here to provide great service and great wine.

- Surprisingly, Milwaukee is a very big wine city.

There's a number of wine bars and wine shops across the city that are all doing amazing programming and retail, have retail operations that are doing quite well, and new ones are popping up all the time.

In terms of what we are trying to bring, it's about education, right?

So we're not in the business of selling wine, we're not making wine, we wanna teach people about wine so that they understand what they're drinking and why, and what it is that they love about it, and even the things that you don't like, being able to articulate why.

We've been around since September, 2023, so we are still in our infancy, and, you know, we're learning with every event and every class that we teach.

We're still growing.

We're trying to get more instructors onboard.

We just launched a certification course in January on Spanish wine, hoping to launch some certifications on French and Italian wine later this year, and we do our monthly classes twice a month.

We have classes for consumers kind of like this, but at a smaller scale.

- Because I've always been a fan of wine.

And so, when I had the opportunity to be like, "Hey, you know, you seem to have kind of an affinity for this, would you be interested in like, learning more or getting a certification, or possibly teaching?"

And that's when I kind of expanded, and I'm actually currently in the process for studying for my own Spanish Wine Scholar certification, so, from there, I was able to teach my first class last October on sweet wines from around the world, and it was so much fun.

I love the fact that I've watched them grow from being able to just teach a few classes here and there to now they're expanding, and they're already certified to be instructors, and they're training, right in this moment, training up the next group of certified wine scholars.

And so, to be able to get that level of support and engagement in Milwaukee, to be able to expand the wine community in Milwaukee, and Milwaukee has already had like, you know, we have a good food and wine scene here already.

And so, we're finally starting to get some spotlight on, "Oh, like there's stuff going on in Milwaukee," and the fact that Milwaukee Wine Academy is able to kind of like, you know, gear up the next wave of wine enthusiasm, industry experts is super cool.

- But we usually do between four and six wines at every class, and we're gonna teach folks about what is it that they're tasting, where are these wines from, who are the people making them, the ways in which these wines are produced.

But then, also, you know, there's lots of maps.

I'm a big map nerd, so you'll always see maps in my classes.

We're gonna talk about the different grapes.

And then, also work through tasting wine, right?

So, what is acidity, what are tannins, what does body mean?

You know, the difference between a fruity wine and a sweet wine, right?

Not all wines are sweet, even if they smell sweet, right?

And so, helping people distinguish those terms so that, when they go out into the world, whether it's a restaurant, a wine bar, or wine shop, they know how to articulate for themselves what they like and don't like.

We have our second Milwaukee Wine Weekend.

We want it to coincide with 414 Day and celebrate Milwaukee, and so, we will start on April 10th with a happy hour at Thelma Carol Wine Merchants here in Walker's Point, and then we have a couple other events that are still in production.

I don't wanna give too much away today, but it will be April 10th through 13th.

I would say don't feel intimidated by wine.

We are the space to come to if you want to learn.

If you're curious in any way, shape, or form, come on out to any of our events, our classes, or maybe even, you know, launch yourself into a certification, this is the space for you.

It is open to everyone, and we want everyone to be drinking good wine.

(dynamic upbeat music) - [Reporter] Since its inception in 1987, "Black Nouveau" was destined to be a different kind of local program for Milwaukee's African American community.

- We had done talk show, talk show, talk, show, I say, "Let's do something a little positive."

- But Joe put the gauntlet out because he wanted it to be just great, to be as good as national shows.

And it's like, we all went in with the hand and said, "We're gonna do this."

- And being positive was the key.

Outside of our community, The only thing that people knew about African Americans for the most part was what they saw on the 10 o'clock news, and there was so much more to us than that.

And so, Joe said, "If nothing else, it's going to be a positive show.

We'll tackle the issues, but we're doing, how are they overcoming them.

You know, what's the outcome after this, you know, something that's happened, et cetera, not just the negative of what you saw."

- [Reporter] And that's what makes "Black Nouveau" different.

- [Andre] I have a garden project on 9th and Ring where we teach young black men how to grow their own food, and how to clean up their neighborhood, and they get paid for it.

- [Reporter 2] Men from the community mentor the youth, and they financially support the project.

- The purpose of the dinner is that many of the young black men in the neighborhood don't have a father, or even a man in the house, and sometimes, if he is there, he's not the greatest example, so this is a day where the men dress 'em up.

Some of them have never put on a suit and tie, and they put on a tie, and a man help him with the tie, and, for the first time, many of them are called "son".

Many of them get father advice.

I like to say, "You may not be their birth dad, but, for the day, you become their earth dad."

- [Liddie] The north of Milwaukee this July summer day, some young people were getting ready to take a trip south.

And for some, this would be their first time leaving Milwaukee.

Under the direction of the Running Rebels Community Organization, a group that helps young people, they are traveling to the big easy, New Orleans.

These young people will gather valuable educational information and learn firsthand how Hurricane Katrina affected the New Orleans area.

- And this is the part of my life that, from one to 50, was a part of my life.

I was born down here.

There's people that are in Milwaukee that think everything is all fine in New Orleans from the floods, and just thinking it's okay, so what we want to do is go down, one, and show them that, no, everything is not okay.

- The black man wasn't equal to the white man in the sixties.

- We didn't know if we were gonna make it back across that bridge.

I think that was the scariest moment of my life.

- We're in this thing for the long struggle, and, you know, if it takes filling up the jails, we're gonna fill up the jails, but we're not gonna stop until this issue is resolved.

(camera clicks) - [Joanne] For more than 40 years, Harry Kemp documented Milwaukee's African American community.

View his legacy and share the memories of the man behind the camera in a "Black Nouveau" special presentation, "Harry Kemp: The Photography Man".

- I like to say, first of all, that human trafficking is the umbrella.

I'd like to reiterate that.

And underneath that, you have child sex slavery, sex slavery, farm workers, domestic workers, and sex slavery weaves itself in and out of that.

I talk about the fact that sex slavery is really soul assassination.

All forms of human trafficking are soul assassination.

♪ I'm ready to right now ♪ ♪ I'm ready to go right now ♪ ♪ Go ♪ - How dare you judge me.

- [Liddie] This is actress Brooke Bello, a human sex trafficking survivor.

She travels the country, sharing her story.

(dynamic upbeat music) - Shelly Conley has always been passionate about words and poetry.

She wrote her first poem in middle school, and, since then, she has utilized poetry for self-reflection and to inspire others.

Recently, the Milwaukee Public Library System appointed her as Milwaukee's new poet laureate.

She joins us to discuss how she plans to use her platform to uplift others.

Shelly, welcome to "Black Nouveau".

- Thank you.

- First of all, congratulations on being named Poet Laureate.

- Thank you.

- And can you tell us what steps went in, were involved in all of that, and how you became Poet Laureate?

- Yeah, so what I know now is there were 22 applicants.

There was kind of an extensive application process where you had to outline what events you were gonna do over the next two years.

That has to be a total of five events, and a series of other questions.

Your bio, of course, and lots of questions.

And so, from there, they had a panel, the library, and they narrowed it down to I think eight people, maybe?

From there, to three people, and then from there to me.

So, and I did have to go in and do a panel interview where I had to do a poem of my own, and a poem of someone else's that I enjoyed, and answer a bunch of questions, as well, at the panel.

- And what are your plans for this role?

- So my two key things I'm trying to really stay rooted in, I won't say trying, that I am staying rooted in, are community and collaboration.

So, for example, my first project that I'll be executing in March involves the businesses in Bronzeville, along MLK.

It involves the community, seeing poetry when they walk by.

I really just wanna make poetry available and accessible to all people, and have it in places where it's not normally seen.

So, to bring awareness to it and the power of it, I'm including several local poets in that project, so their work will actually be displayed.

So that's my first project, but it's all rooted in community and collaboration.

I wanna do some stuff with artists of different sorts.

Both music, visual artists.

I wanna do stuff with youth, as well as the elders, and I really wanna try to bring together, I'll say it so it can happen, past poet laureates in some way.

Whether it's a showcase... Whatever it is, just so that we have a collaboration of our own, because I think we have a lot to offer the world.

You know, Milwaukee specifically, maybe the laureate that comes after me, so collaboration and community.

- How has poetry changed over the years since, you know, you're a seven time Slam champion.

How has poetry changed over that timeframe?

- I would say the biggest difference, while this sounds kind of strange, is like, I come from, you know, paper and pen writing.

And so, that has evolved differently now where you can just pull out your phone and write, which I do.

Reading off the phone, that's all kind of stuff that has evolved with technology.

As far as the actual poetry, for me, it's always been a free form of expression, and so, I don't necessarily feel like that piece has changed.

I think people are a little more free and open to different topics that maybe weren't talked about in the past.

Just again, as the world changes and things evolve, but it's always been a space of like, I might say something that someone doesn't agree with, but it's my poem, it's my passion, my feelings, and you can't really debate with that.

So I think that part hasn't changed, but some of the topics have expanded as the world has changed.

- How has poetry inspired you, and how has it helped others?

I know that you've done some work through My Sister's Keeper, if you could talk a little bit about that.

- So how it's inspired me is, I really would say I found my voice through poetry.

I have always been a writer, but a private writer, so that made me build my confidence.

Getting on the mic finally built confidence, and being surrounded by other amazing poets really just helped me find my voice.

And I use it now in the classroom with My Sister's Keeper.

We work with middle school and high school girls.

We use poetry and writing in every classroom, and it's a way for them to tap into emotions that they have bottled up, and that they don't realize are affecting them in their life and their choices, because they think like, "Oh it doesn't matter.

I've bottled it up."

So we tap in and help them open up those feelings, and get them out in a positive way.

- Will you give us a couple of poems?

- Absolutely!

I would love to.

- Awesome.

- Cross-legged, i sit so close to the TV that I smell electricity.

My mother stands there, hand on her hips, veins bulging from her neck.

She says, "How many times must I tell you to back up from that TV?"

This was a song chorus, 'cause, of course, I never listened.

See, the closer I got, the more I felt connected to my favorite characters, which, in 1981, meant every Saturday morning, I moved to Smurf Village, side-by-side with Smurfette, long, thick ponytails flowing down my back next to her blonde tresses.

In '81, my Saturday mornings were filled with my mama's homemade biscuits, the concoctions of Papa Smurf while Brainy Smurf assured me this burden of wearing glasses just meant I was smarter than the average.

Blue skin gave this illusion that black and white were irrelevant.

In '81, I didn't know that, in the real world, our skin color mattered, and brown was not in season.

I was naive to race relations and subliminal segregation in our projects.

Untried ears couldn't hear the screams of oppressed mothers from welfare lines.

See, in '81, if you were blue in the real world, it wasn't cute like those little Smurfs, more a metaphor for sadness, financial depression, suffocation, tiring fights against European colonists.

It was post-four little girls.

Post-four little girls being blown to shreds while praising their God, post-assassination of Malcolm and Martin, pre-Rodney King, pre-James Byrd, pre Sean Bell.

See, in '81, while I watched cartoons and ate my mama's homemade biscuits, Rick James sang "Super Freak", and Michael Jackson rocked with you, an Alabama man was being preyed on for dinner, rocking in a tree like a faulty Christmas decoration.

See, Michael Donald was only 19, body hanging heavy like a paraplegic.

His legs slightly bent, his neck slit, his head tilted, a reflection of this crooked system.

See, in '81, we still hung America's "Strange Fruit", Billie Holiday turning in her grave.

In the 21st century, our country still smudged with DNA from innocent lives, gluttonous cops still drink the blood of our young like vampires, and cocky elitists still twist the system while America turns a blind eye to this genocide from Rwanda to the bayou to our backyards.

The only change is the weapon they formed against us, popes replaced by night sticks and glocks.

You see, I'm trying to believe God when he says they won't prosper, but that feels so hard looking at the odds.

♪ I felt the earth ♪ ♪ Move in my hand ♪ - [Reporter] "Black Nouveau" follows local talent that performs on the national stage.

♪ Like the trembling heart ♪ ♪ Believe it ♪ ♪ Of a captive bird ♪ (acoustic string music playing) (acoustic string music continues) - I've always tried to sneak a reference to Milwaukee into my work.

And I was born and raised in the city, and I take a lot of pride in that.

There's so much here to be proud of, and there's always something new to take pride in.

I still have family who live in the city, so I still feel very connected to Wisconsin, and that's a connection I want my family to feel.

- [Reporter] And we cover national celebrities when they come to town.

- I would say that "Hollywood Shuffle" is my journey as a young actor of color in Hollywood.

The obstacles that I had to face, semi-autobiographical, and I think it's very funny, you know, 'cause we got funny people in it, and it's a touching story, too.

- [Reporter] And have important messages to share.

- I think if we understood what these dreadful diseases can do to our being, then I believe we will pay some attention to what we have to do to change it.

- [Reporter] While we still cover our local art scene.

As Milwaukee-based Ko-Thi Dance Company turns 50, it pays homage to harvest through dance and celebration.

- Ujima, based off of the Kwanza principle, which means collective work and responsibility.

This concert in particular is based around harvest.

The harvest season is really important to the African culture.

(dynamic upbeat music) - And finally, tonight, we pay tribute to Lucille Berrien, Ardie Clark Halyard, and Bernice Lindsay.

Joining us to discuss their legacy is historian Dr. Sandra E. Jones, author of "Voices of Milwaukee Bronzeville".

Thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

- Alright, so, first off, let's talk about Lucille Berrien.

We were talking backstage about the history of activism between all three of these women, but Ms. Berrien, first.

Just talk about what she means to the city.

- Lucille has a history of activism in the city of Milwaukee.

She migrated to Milwaukee from Florida in about the 1950s, and her whole history here, she's contributed a lot to the history of Milwaukee, has been fighting for the rights of people, fighting for the rights of African Americans in the city of Milwaukee.

She worked in the area of housing, she worked in the area of welfare rights.

She was one of the founding members of the National Alliance Against Racists and Political Repression, which grew out of the national movement to free Angela Davis.

She was the first African American woman to run for mayor in the city of Milwaukee back in the day.

She also ran for Wisconsin State Treasurer in, I think it was 1990s.

And her whole life has been giving to the community that she has loved.

- That is a pretty profound and extensive history, so happy to learn that.

But now let's talk about Miss Halyard right?

You know, Columbia Savings & Loan.

We all know the bank, the black bank here in Milwaukee, but talk about her activism in the economic sense.

- Yeah, she also migrated to Milwaukee back in the day, and she and her husband, Wilbur, were very interested in improving the housing situation for black people in the city.

They founded the, as everybody knows, the Columbia Savings & Loan, which made it possible for black people to purchase housing, because banks very much discriminated against black folks back in the day.

The Halyard Park area in Milwaukee is named after Ardie and Wilbur Halyard.

They funded the first houses that were built in the area, and it was built mainly for working class people who worked at, not Allis-Chalmers, Master Lock and A.O.

Smith, but it really gave African Americans a chance to create generational wealth that, you know, had been lacking up to that point.

And so, the area is named after them, and it's a great tribute to their activism and their contribution to the city.

- So there are themes of activism, themes of housing, also themes of migration.

So, talk about Miss Bernice Lindsay right?

- Bernice Lindsay is another person who migrated from Indiana to Milwaukee.

And Bernice Lindsay was also very much interested in improving the housing conditions of African Americans in the city.

So there were a number of projects that she was involved in.

One was a project around the area of Stark Street, and she and a group of African Americans bought up some land, basically for the taxes that were due on them, and sold them to African Americans who wanted to build houses.

The project was halted because of things like restrictive covenants, but she was successful in creating a housing project along 1800 on 4th Street.

And again, what that did is it made it possible for black people to buy, own their own homes, create generational wealth, and, you know, live a better life in the city of Milwaukee.

- So.

we have about a minute left.

What do you want our viewers to know and people to know about the legacies of all these three women, if you could sum it up for us?

- They symbolize what black people do.

Black people do what black people have to do to get ahead.

You know, it's not just protesting, but how do we help ourselves acquire the things that we deserve?

You know, the wealth, the progress, and so on.

And the three of these women represent that very well.

- Dr. Jones, such an honor to have you on the show.

Thank you so much for being here on "Black Nouveau".

- Thank you so much for having me.

- Before we close tonight here at "Black Nouveau", we bring you the stories that matter, stories of the people, the culture, and perspective of the events that happen all around us.

But we can't do it without you.

Your support keeps public television strong all year-round, so join us today with the monthly gift of $5, $10, or $20.

Call 1-800-221-1036, or visit MilwaukeePBS.org to donate.

Together, let's keep these stories alive.

And also, be sure to check us out on social media.

For "Black Nouveau", I'm Earl Arms.

Have a great evening.

(dynamic upbeat music)