Milwaukee's Bronzeville neighborhood will take center stage during "Bronzeville Week"

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Milwaukee’s Bronzeville will again take center stage as a destination for art, entertainment, history and culture when the second annual Bronzeville Week is held August 2 – August 9, hosted by Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs.

Approved unanimously as an official city-sanctioned event at Tuesday’s (June 24th) meeting of the full Common Council, this year’s Bronzeville Week will kick off with a major street festival, Alderwoman Coggs said.

“With no African World Festival this year, I am hoping Bronzeville Week can attract a wide array of visitors who want to experience the flavor and energy of the Milwaukee Bronzeville of the early to mid-1900s, when Bronzeville was the busy, primary hub of commerce, culture, and arts and entertainment for Milwaukee’s African-American population,” the alderwoman said.

Alderwoman Coggs said Bronzeville Week 2014 will feature a positive focus and vibe, and will include a variety of activities and events.

Bounded by Garfield Avenue to Center Street, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive to 7th Street, the Bronzeville Cultural and Entertainment District is wholly located in the 6th Aldermanic District.

The district is a City of Milwaukee redevelopment initiative inspired by Milwaukee’s original Bronzeville, and it is striving to revitalize the area of Milwaukee where African-American culture has been a mainstay.

The Bronzeville Redevelopment Plan seeks to create economic development in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in a way that recaptures the enthusiasm and attractiveness of the original Bronzeville District.

The term “Bronzeville” was typically given to an area of a city inhabited by African-Americans in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The primary African-American economic and social hub of its time, Bronzeville brought all ethnicities together to celebrate African-American culture.