James Groppi

AKA: Father James Groppi
Released
Full name:James Edmund Groppi
Date of birth:16. 11. 1930
Date of death:04. 11. 1985
Age:54† Deceased
Gender:Male
Era:1960s
State:Wisconsin
Time Imprisoned:
10 Days
Support
NAACP
James Groppi

Biography

James Groppi was a Catholic priest and civil rights organizer in Milwaukee who worked with the NAACP Youth Council on campaigns against segregation and housing discrimination. In September 1969 he led a welfare-rights demonstration at the Wisconsin State Assembly. The Assembly found him in contempt on October 1 and ordered imprisonment for six months or the remainder of its session, whichever was shorter. A federal appellate opinion records that he actually served ten days in Dane County Jail before release on bail. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the contempt action because he had not received adequate notice and an opportunity to respond. This entry records the ten days served, rather than the six-month sentence.

Photo credit

Wisconsin Historical Society, Father James Groppi, image 92286; via Wisconsin Life. Photographer and date unknown.

Birth date source

Born November 16, 1930. America’s Black Holocaust Museum: James Groppi biography.

Cases

Dane County Jail
Charges: Contempt of the Wisconsin State Assembly following the September 29, 1969 welfare-rights demonstration in the Assembly chamber.
Arrested: Oct 1, 1969
Sentenced: Oct 1, 1969
Incarcerated: Oct 1, 1969
Released: Oct 11, 1969
Sentence: Six months or the remainder of the legislative session, whichever was shorter. Actually served 10 days before federal release on bail; the contempt action was subsequently overturned.
Institution State: Wisconsin
Charges: Probation revocation on a resisting-an-officer conviction arising from the August 31, 1967 Milwaukee open-housing protest
Arrested: Oct 11, 1969
Sentenced: Oct 17, 1969
Incarcerated: Oct 11, 1969
Sentence: Six-month sentence activated on October 17, 1969, with six days of custody credit after re-arrest on October 11. Justice Thurgood Marshall stayed execution and ordered release on October 27 pending review. The actual release date remains unverified. This episode is separate from the October 1–11 legislative-contempt confinement.
Judge: F. Ryan Duffy Jr.
Convicted: Yes

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