The power of the poems in "Two Hundred Nights and One Day" derives from their ability to capture history and release it in exacting and

unforgettable moments.

Francine Ringold

Editor-in-Chief

Nimrod International Journal

These poems bring to life an important, but often overlooked, chapter in civil rights history--the fight for local and national open housing laws . . . This significant and accessible book provides an excellent way to introduce the study of the American Civil Rights Movement to students in literature and history classes.

Dr. Howard Fuller

Founder and Director

The Institute for the Transformation of Learning

Marquette University

For my students, the turbulence of the sixties has reduced to songs and slogans, an occasional movie.  The African-American quest for equality is pushed so far behind as to seem the product of a scriptwriter rather than an insistent force which guns and hoses will not stop.  As Margaret Rozga says in her opening poem, “History remembers the dream, forgets the nightmare.”  These poems speak of Milwaukee activists, including her, who marched for months to bring about fair housing.  Each voice speaks with immediacy impossible to ignore.  I have my memories of the   sixties—the meetings, the marches, the demonstrations—Chicago, Washington, DC.  These poems unearth Milwaukee’s story, the story of so many cities in turmoil during that time.  Thanks to the poet-as-witness, the reader knows that these stories will not disappear.  

Martha Modena Vertreace-Doody

A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow

Distinguished Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence at Kennedy-King College, Chicago.