The Milwaukee Roots Dialogue Series is an 8-session virtual dialogue series with 2 place-based experiences in the City of Milwaukee. Participants engage in guided discussion about Milwaukee Roots through interacting with CURTO’s March On, Milwaukee Digital History Series. The program is hosted by Marquette University’s Center for Urban Research, Teaching & Outreach (CURTO), in collaboration with the Service Learning Program and the Burke Scholars Program.

CURTO's March On, Milwaukee Digital History Series was developed in the summer of 2020 as our city and nation dealt with two crises, Covid-19 and racism. In response to this, CURTO and the March on Milwaukee 50th Anniversary Committee (MOM 50th) created a series of weekly webinars that examined Milwaukee’s rich, but often problematic history. Webinars feature local historians, community organizers, and other local experts. These community experts share important underrepresented histories of Milwaukee and share their perspectives on issues of voting rights, food, housing, student activism, unheard voices and rich diversity and culture of our neighborhoods.

Program Format

About half of each dialogue group is made up of Marquette students enrolled through Service Learning, and the other half are members of the Marquette and Milwaukee community. Dialogue groups are facilitated by Marquette graduate students. Participants commit to watch videos from CURTO’s March On Milwaukee Digital History Series prior to their weekly dialogue sessions, meet weekly to engage in conversation about them with others, and also are invited to attend an Explore Milwaukee Trip with members of the cohort.

MKE Roots Dialogue Series is currently on pause as the Center focuses on building out other aspects of the MKE Roots project. More information about MKE Roots can be found here.