The Milwaukee Citizens for Equal Opportunity (MCEO) was organized in November, 1960. Initially its interest was focused on civil rights problems in the South. In 1961 it obtained 5,500 signatures on a petition to President Kennedy urging his strongest support to school integration in all states, and raised money for the Save Our Schools committee in New Orleans and for evicted tenant farmers in Fayette County, Tennessee.
The MCEO soon turned its attention to local problems of housing discrimination and school integration in Milwaukee. It cooperated with and later merged with the Citizens Committee for Fair Housing Practices. In 1962 and 1963 it circulated “Good Neighbor Pledges,” and published names of signers in the Milwaukee Journal. It initiated a free housing referral service in 1964, but difficulties in locating adequate housing available on a nondiscriminatory basis further convinced the MCEO of the necessity of corrective legislation. In 1963 and 1965 it was active in organizing support for fair housing bills under consideration by the state legislature. It was also active in its efforts to encourage reforms in the Milwaukee school system and criticized de facto segregation, supporting the 1964 and 1965 school boycotts.
