Lawyer groups team up to put on Fair Housing Act program

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The Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association and the Wisconsin Association of African-American Lawyers are holding an event to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of well-known fair-housing marches and the adoption of the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

The act, among other things, banned housing discrimination.

The two bar associations are organizing a program called “The Promise of the Fair Housing Act 50 Years Later: A Look at the Past Present and Future.” It will take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on March 14 at the Federal Courthouse, 517 East Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee.  To register, go to http://bit.ly/FairHousing50.

The program will feature a panel of speakers moderated by Magistrate Judge Patricia Gorence. The speakers will include:

• Earl Bracy, a Glendale psychologist who participated in the marches
• Kori Schneider Peragine of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council
• The Milwaukee lawyer and NAACP Milwaukee President James Hall
• New York civil-rights lawyer Diane Houck, who used to work for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice – Housing and Civil Enforcement Section.

Houk practiced in Wisconsin for seven years representing plaintiffs in civil-rights cases before she worked for the DOJ.

Those who attend will be able to view a display in the courthouse atrium called “Crossing the Line: The Milwaukee Fair Housing Marches of 1967-68,” which looks at the school-desegregation and fair-housing movements in the 1960s. The display was made by the Wisconsin Historical Society and can be viewed from March 13 to March 15.