Milwaukee Dedicates Park To 19th-Century Pioneer Of Black Voting Rights

The city of Milwaukee has dedicated a park to a man who played a pivotal role in expanding the voting rights of black people in Wisconsin.

Ezekiel Gillespie was born in 1818 as a slave in Tennessee. He eventually bought his way out of slavery and came to Milwaukee in 1854, where he worked as a grocer. Wisconsin had passed a law in 1849 guaranteeing black men voting rights, but Gillespie and others were nevertheless not allowed to cast ballots. Gillespie sued and eventually the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in his favor.

About 150 years later, Milwaukee and other partners have dedicated a small park in Gillespie’s honor in a low-income black neighborhood. State Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said that there’s a link between Gillespie’s place in Wisconsin history and the new park.

“Ezekiel was someone who pushed and pursued and championed, fighting against the odds no matter what — and won. So what this park symbolizes to me is hope, change, (and) trail-blazing,” said Taylor.

The park will include fruit trees and bushes and has a 1,000-gallon cistern to collect rainwater for later use on the plantings. The small “pocket park” is on the former site of three vacant lots and a foreclosed house.