Measure for Measure (M4M) was an independent Wisconsin corporation with local organizations in several communities which provided economic assistance to Southern Blacks during the late 1960's and early 1970's. The Madison group was formed as the result of trips to the South made by several residents in 1964 and 1965. Convinced of the necessity of a permanent organization to provide substantive, ongoing assistance, they contacted Milwaukee Measure for Measure and incorporated in May 1965.
Although Madison Measure for Measure stressed the importance of economic self-help and community development, by necessity many of its early activities were in the nature of traditional charity. Its first project in 1965 provided books and clothing for a West Helena, Arkansas, Freedom School as part of SNCC's Arkansas Summer Project. Later it provided emergency funds for Mississippi Freedom Union strikers. In 1968 Madison Measure for Measure honored the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., with funds for food stamp purchases in Sunflower County, Mississippi. In response to the racial unrest of that year, the organization also sponsored “Project Understanding,” which brought underprivileged Southern Black youth to Wisconsin. Ultimately, however, its main support (over $250,000 and over 30 tons of clothing, books, household goods, and medical supplies) went to two Mississippi agricultural cooperatives, the North Bolivar County Farm Cooperative in Mound Bayou and Fannie Lou Hamer's Freedom Farm Cooperative in Ruleville.
Throughout its early years, Madison Measure for Measure raised funds through individual efforts such as garage sales, clothing drives, and cocktail parties. Beginning in 1969 it joined with the American Foundation for Freedom from Hunger to sponsor Walks for Development in several Wisconsin communities. As a result, truly significant amounts were raised and Measure for Measure was able to provide funds for the cooperatives for land acquisition and equipment purchases. After this success, however, Madison Measure for Measure declined, and by the late 1970's it was reported moribund.
