The Milwaukee Branch NAACP hosts ‘101st Annual Freedom Fund Dinner’

On Friday, October 17, 2025, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Milwaukee Branch hosted its “101st Annual Freedom Fund Dinner,” at the Baird Center, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave. As the current presidential administration has targeted DEI initiatives and voting rights for African Americans. It was most appropriate that the theme for this year’s dinner was “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” with the keynote speech delivered by NAACP Board of Directors Vice Chair Karen B. Towns. In her speech Towns said, “The clock is ticking not just on our dreams, but on our democracy. The time for waiting has passed…the time for working is now.”

The emcee for the event was WISN 12 News reporter Kristin Pierce. Mayor Cavalier Johnson presented a proclamation to the NAACP Milwaukee Branch president Clarence P. Nicholas. The Freedom Fund Dinner Committee Chairperson for this year’s event was Gloria Pitchford-Nicholas.

Opening its doors in 1924, the NAACP Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP has continued the legacy as the oldest, largest, and strongest civil rights organization in the nation to work for political, educational, social, and economic equality for people of color through nonviolent use of the press, the petition, the ballot and the courts.