Black Metropolis
The Last Half Century

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SYLLABUS

The Black Metropolis III: 1975-Present

Spring 2005

 

SOC 392/394 Section 301                                  Instructors: Ted Manley, Jr., Caleb Dube

SOC 290 Section 301                                        Office Hours: Tuesday 4:00-5:30pm 

Faculty Hall LL107                                          Office: # 1113 1st floor Dietzgen Building 990 Fullerton                                                                                  

                                                                        Tele: (773) 325-4718                                                                   

                                                                        E-mails: tmanley@depaul.edu    cdube@depaul.edu 

 

Black Metropolis classroom and office: Our permanent classroom and office is located in the basement of the Steans Center for Community based Service Learning (CBSL). The Steans’ Center is located in Faculty Hall at 2233 North Kenmore Avenue. The Black Metropolis Project office is located in the basement (Lower Level) room LL104. The Black Metropolis project telephone number is (773) 325-2489.  You can leave a voice mail message at this number 24 hours a day.

 

Project Team members

Theodoric (Ted) Manley, Jr. (Co-Instructor and principal investigator) (see above)

Caleb Dube (Co-Instructor and Co-principal investigator) (773) 325-4672

Molly Szymanski (Teaching and Research Assistant; Community Coordinator)

                           (773) 325-2489 mszyman2@depaul.edu

Support staff: 

Mireille Kotoklo (Project Librarian) 773-325-7772 mkotoklo@depaul.edu

Steve Harp (Project Photographer) (773) 325-4748 sharp@depaul.edu 

BMP Quantitative Consultant:

David Jabon and John Foster (Former Quantitative Instructor and assistant) (773) 325-7286 djabon@depaul.edu  

Required Articles and Books:

Books:

A Raisin in the Sun 1958 Author: Lorraine Hansberry. New York: Vintage Books

Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago 1997 by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman with David Isay. New York: Scribner.

American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto 2000 by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press

The Hip Hop Generation 2002 Bakari Kitwana. New York: Basic Civitas 

Articles:

“Introduction, Part I and Chapter 23” (Handout) in St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton (1945) The Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life In a Northern City Vol. 1.  New York: Harcourt Brace.

 “Transformations Part 4.” (Hand-out) In William J. Grimshaw (1992) Bitter Fruit: Black Politics and the Chicago Machine 1931-1991.

University of Chicago Press.

“Epilogue: Chicago and the Nation.” (Handout) In Arnold R. Hirsch (1998) Making of the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago: 1940-1960. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

“Who’s in, who’s out in the Bronzeville Boom.” (Handout) In The Chicago Reporter (November/December 2000) Volume 29 Number 10

 

Recommended reading:

St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton (1945) The Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life In a Northern City Vol. 1.  New York: Harcourt Brace.

William J. Grimshaw (1992) Bitter Fruit: Black Politics and the Chicago Machine 1931-1991.

University of Chicago Press.

Arnold R. Hirsch (1998) Making of the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago: 1940-1960. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wayne F. Miller 2000. Chicago’s South Side: 1946-1948. California: University of California Press.

Alan H. Spear. 1967. Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, 1890-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Web page and linkage resources:

The project web site is located at www.depaul.edu/~blackmet The web page contains resources for classroom instruction; bibliographic instruction; electronic reserves for books and articles required for the course; important links to community organizations and institutions in Chicago; the Black metropolis Revisited map file; and the town hall power point presentation. The web page is linked to the Chicago Public Library and the Branch libraries (Hall, Bee, King); the Woodson Regional Library; Chicago Historical Society; Chicago Public Schools; Chicago Housing Authority; The Metro Chicago Information Center; The John T. Richardson Library and DePaul University etc.

The Chicago Public Library Carter G. Woodson Regional Library

All students will have access to the Vivian G. Harsh research collection of Afro-American History and Literature located at the Carter G. Woodson library. The Woodson library is located at 9525 South Halsted. The Harsh collection also contains archives of the Chicago Defender; the Chicago Whip; the Chicago Bee; and the Pittsburgh Courier.

 I.          Introduction.

 

This course is part of a three-year longitudinal research project tilted The Black Metropolis: The Last Half-Century. The Black Metropolis Project (BMP) is an effort to examine changes in the original 'black belt' of Chicago since the publication of St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton’ monumental study of the Black Metropolis (1945). The BMP is part of a yearlong course sequence that offers a platform of three interrelated chronological time periods: 1890-1950 Black Metropolis I; 1950-1975 Black Metropolis II; and the period 1975- to present Black Metropolis III.

If taken as a full year sequence DePaul University students can earn credit toward experiential learning in the first sequence, service learning in the second sequence, internship in the third sequence and credit toward a minor in sociology or community based service learning. High school students can earn up to 12 college credits and up to 40 hours of service learning required for high school graduation if the course is taken for the full year.

Through historical and contemporary readings, class discussions, student exercises and training, field experiences and student cooperative service learning activities the course will examine key events, circumstances, and situations that changed in the area since 1950.

Black Metropolis III

The third course in the three-course sequence on the Black Metropolis introduces students to the fall of a modern ghetto. Much of the twentieth century for Blacks living in the area called Bronzeville is a testimony to the struggle for decent housing, jobs, health, safety, schools, recreation and environment.  Indeed, for over one century the original settlement area for Blacks in Chicago was a segregated ghetto amiss the prosperity of downtown Chicago. This area is typified as once the strength of what Black was all about in Chicago. From the making of the first ghetto characterized by strong black institutions, civic race leaders and community services to urban renewal and confinement of poor working class blacks in the making of the second ghetto. The finale is based on the “return” of economic development, revitalization and gentrification in the area at the turn of the twenty first.

Where did the strength and leadership of the community fail? How did failure become an option? What were the leadership constraints and goals? How did institutionalized racism from federal, state and local levels shape the social forces tied to a policy of confinement and hyper-segregation in the making of the second Black Metropolis? How do the current changes in new construction, housing revitalization and gentrification and the attraction of developers and bankers meet the vested interest of federal, state and local private and public interest in the “remaking of Bronzeville?” Who will benefit? Who will lose? Why?

This course will challenge students to think critically about the chances of creating a just and open society for Americans of African descent in Chicago.

 This course builds on the first and second sequenced courses as students analyze the relationship between the ‘first’ Great Migration before WWI and, the ‘second’ Great Migration before and during WWII. Each migration stream of Blacks from the south brought new federal, state, local and global changes to Chicago as the Black population transformed the urban and suburban landscape of Metropolitan Chicago. We will focus in the beginning of the course on the following:

·         The success of the civil rights movement

·         Dr. Martin Luther King’s visit to Chicago

·         King’s assassination and the murder of Fred Hampton

·         The 1970s and black nationalism

·         The death of Daley (King Richard I)

·         The rise of a Black Messiah and his death

·         The return of the king (King Richard II) and

·         The fall of a modern ghetto.

At the close of the course students will reflect on the different set of circumstances affecting the Black poor and working poor (i.e., housing displacement and relocation)  and the middle and upper class (the new “pioneers”) inside the “city within a city”—Bronzeville.

Community Service Studies

This course fulfills one of the requirements for the Community Service Studies Minor (CSSM) under the rubric of “group dynamics.” Under “group dynamics” it examines how the process of migration and the struggle for equality among African Americans in Chicago interacts and continues to influence different racial groups in Chicago, particularly those that self identify as White. It meets the criteria by engaging students in practical activities and interaction with African Americans in Bronzeville. Under that category students will engage in fieldwork as they collect data through observations, interviews, and service within the African American community in Bronzeville.

Students interested in more information about this minor (6 courses) and career choices it may open should contact the Director of the program, Dr. Alexandra Murphy, (773) 325-4625, e-mail amurphy@depaul.edu

II.        Course objectives.

There are three primary objectives of The Black Metropolis Project. 

1.         To teach, train, and prepare students to participate and experience the value of collecting facts and information to understand and interpret change in the Black Metropolis since the last-half of the 20th century.

           

2.                   To assess, support, and assist student development of technological skills, critical thinking and cooperative group learning through team focused project based assignments.

 

3.         To teach the application of social science theories and research in service-based and internship training programs relevant to examining and explaining changes in the Black Metropolis since the last-half of the 20th century. 

III.       Point of view towards the seminar.

The object is not to simply pass along information that might be assembled and comprehended through individual reading. Active team participation in the pursuit of knowledge about the past to explain the present and future should stimulate a synthesis of ideas and comprehension of critical analytic skills impossible to develop through individual effort alone. We (the project team) choose to play neither the role of an all-knowing "dictator" who orders perfor­mance, nor, the role of Professor "nice-guy" who runs happy anarchy while the ivy grows. We will do everything in our power to catalyze students into being effective at rendering specific hypotheses, propositions, functions, co-relations, explanations and causes out of the array of materials and resources required for this course. 

Team participation is one of the most important enterprises we will engage in to collect data, facts, and information to ferret out specific variables, rela­tionships among variables and sets of variables to understand and interpret changes in the Black Metropolis since the last-half century. Students will be trained how to hold up to scrutiny social science formulations in terms of their potential to resolve and or clarify anomalies, their deductive and inductive elegance, the extent to which they match known data, and their conducive­ness to manipulation. All this is done to seek when necessary ancillary formulations, their value and social implications for understanding the Black Metropolis: The Last-Half Century.

This activity requires a willingness to make intellectual risk in a supportive atmo­sphere that we expect all team members to provide. We are counting on your practical and theoretical skills, your energy, and your critical capacity to assist in the difficult task of understanding changes in the Black Metropolis since the last-half century. Insofar as we enjoy success in this endeavor, we will have created and produced project based assignments critical to your own educational development and the needs of the Black Metropolis Project.

IV.       Course Requirements.

1.       Each student is required to enroll on Blackboard (www.blackboard.depaul.edu) to maintain online communication and to monitor individual and group performance. Also, Blackboard contains under course information the syllabi, music lyrics, the photography file and more.

·         You can obtain access to the Black Metropolis database by going to qrc.depaul.edu

When you log on to this website navigate to the left column and click on Excel files. Toggle down to Bronzeville and single click. Choose the file “Bronzeville data with field data” which contains primary data on the physical quality of life database. You’ll receive quantitative instruction on how to use the data base during the fourth and fifth weeks of the course.

2.       Required perfect attendance (15 points) and active participation (20 points). More than four absences, the equivalent of two weeks of the class, without a legitimate excuse will result in an automatic FX for undergraduate students and detention and possible dismissal for high school students.

3.       Each student in the class is required to keep a journal (100 points). The journal must include the following.

·         Your reflections and assessment of classroom discussions, reading and training assignments, lectures, and field work assignments. Include in here what you like, don’t like, don’t understand and need help with! What are we doing!

·         Your reflections on required field experiences and assignments.

·         Your assessment of what you think you know well and are learning.

·         Your assessment of your reactions to and interpretations of change in the Black Metropolis

·         Your team assignments and schedules.

The journal is due every Wednesday. The first journal is due Wednesday March 30th 2005. All

Journals will be read and graded by the undergraduate teaching assistant and the instructors (100 points).

3.       Mid-term take-home exam: fieldwork, service learning, and research training short essay/multiple choice take-home exam. Handed-out on Wednesday April 27th 2004 and is due Monday May 2nd 2005. The exam will cover the readings and classroom lectures and discussions, techniques of field note taking, mapping observations, writing-out situational events, bibliographic instruction, photo-solicitation, quantitative training and face-to-face interviewing techniques. In addition the exam will cover technology usage and software sophistication, application of mathematical skills, power point data presentation, and social science data manipulation skills (100 points).

4.       Field note training/exercises and assignments photographic training/exercises and assignments, bibliographic instruction/exercises and assignments, technology training/exercises and assignments (100 points). Due every Monday. The first field notes are due April 4th 2005.

·         Field notes this quarter consist of the following items:

1.       Collecting articles in local newspapers, magazines, and print media related to the redevelopment of Bronzeville. The beginning timeframe for these articles is 1990 continuing to the present. Please do database searches for all local newspapers, magazines, and print media. Include summaries of these materials in your field notes along with copies of the articles. Resources are available to cover cost of Xeroxing and printing articles. Keep all receipts

2.       Physical quality of life data collection (see service learning projects below bullet 6)

·         This is a voluntary assignment for high school students who can earn hours toward their high school service learning requirements for graduation.

5.       Reflective book review and exercise on A Raisin in the Sun. The book review is due Wednesday May 25th 2005 (100 points). The book reflective book review must focus on the historical and contemporary impact of segregation and integration on the African American community in Chicago and Bronzeville. Focus on the class, gender, and social dynamics of the Black family as depicted in the play and how the subtle forms of racism today testify to the trials and tribulations of the great migration, settlement, adaptation, conflict and change in Bronzeville. The review should include your critical thoughts, insights, reflection, and thinking on the fieldwork experiences you have had and reading, class discussions, lectures, and team conversations (see reflective book review outline page 16).

·         The reflective exercise requires each student to assume the character of one of the actors/actresses in the play from three selected scenes during the second week of class (see handout). The film  A Raisin in the Sun, with lead actor Sydney Portier, will be shown on Saturday April 2nd at 10:00am in the project classroom proceeded by a field trip to the project site at 12:00 (noon).

6.       The multi-cultural project based service learning field study portfolio due Thursday June 8th 2005. Presentations will be held during finals week on June 8th. The multicultural project based service learning field study portfolio starts on the first day of class. It is a group project that is guided by the instructional staff and supervised by a graduate research assistant, community coordinator and undergraduate research assistant (see outline on pages 17-20).

Spring 2005 Service Learning Projects: There will be two service learning projects.

Final project: Students will present coded qualitative oral history interview data and written interpretation during finals week. 

                        --George Cleveland Hall branch library Monday May 9th 5:30-7:30pm

                        --Dr. Martin Luther King branch library Thursday May 26th 5:30-7:30pm

                        --The Chicago Bee branch library Monday June 6th 5:30-7:30pm

Final project:  Three town hall meeting presentations in May and June will take place at local branch libraries in the project site. Final presentations and written report of housing in Bronzeville is due finals week.

·         For undergraduate students seeking either experiential learning credit, it consists of supervised field observations totaling 4 hours per week in the field site. Every week, beginning the second week of the course, undergraduate students will conduct field observations to designated sites in the project area.

·         Undergraduate student seeking service learning credits will schedule with the instructors, graduate research assistant, community coordinator, and undergraduate research assistant field visits to one of three service learning sites accumulating no less than 4 hours per week at each site.

·         For undergraduate students seeking internship credits placement is at the Dr. Martin Luther King and George Cleveland Hall Library working as an assistant to the Head Librarians and adding to the Research and Service Learning components of the Black Metropolis Project.

This assignment is worth 200 points (See Multicultural Project Based Service learning field study portfolio handout page 17-18). Copies of old project based field study portfolios are available for review in the project office. To review these please see Molly Szymanski—undergraduate research and teaching assistant.

 

V.  Schedule of weekly seminar lectures, discussions, reading assignments and requirements.

Week One:  March 28th and March 30th

Lecture and discussion topic: The Black Metropolis and the Making of the Second Ghetto 

Reading assignments: “Introduction: Midwest Metropolis and Part I Pp 3-97 and Chapter 23 Advancing the Race” Pp. 716-745. In The Black Metropolis. “Epilogue: Chicago and the Nation.” Pp. 259-275 (Hand-out). In Making of the Second Ghetto.  The Hip Hop Generation: Preface and Introduction: Chapters 1-2.

Film, Music, and slide presentation: Film: Goin’ to Chicago” Music: “Strange Fruit” and “Why I Sing the Blues” (Monday) Slide presentation: “Slavery and its impact on segregation and racial change in Chicago 1890-1960” (Wednesday). Film: A Raisin in the Sun (Saturday April 2nd 10am-12:00 noon 

Classroom instruction: On the first day of class students will meet the research team and we will review the syllabi and all of the requirements for the course. Each student will introduce themselves and the reason (s) for taking the course. Undergraduate and high school students will be assigned to teams and given instructions for their first supervised field-visit to the project site on April 2nd. Students will receive field notebooks, journal notebooks, pens and pencils in preparation for field note recording and journal writing 

We will discuss the Great Migration and the rise of prominent Negro leaders and institutions in the making of the 1st ghetto. In the second Great Migration, before and during WWII, we will discuss the making of the second ghetto and the rise of Negro/Black politics and the Chicago Machine.

Homework assignment: Supervised field-visit to the Black Metropolis/Bronzeville. All student teams will meet at DePaul on Saturday April 2nd 2005 at 12:00 noon in the project classroom. We will take a bus to the project site and, depending on the weather, go on a walking tour of some selected areas of the project site. We will review the remaining portions of the project site by bus. 

Reminder: You should begin recording your thoughts and ideas about the readings and class lectures, your feelings about the course, the project and your role in the journal. The first journal is due Wednesday March 30th in class.

Also, you should begin describing in your field note notebook what you saw (observed) and were exposed to on your first supervised field-site visit—Saturday April 2nd. We will collect field notes describing your observations on Monday April 4th.

 

Week Two: April 4th and 6th

Lecture and discussion topic: The Making of the Second Ghetto: institutional racism, the policy of racial confinement and the segregation of the working poor.  

Reading assignments: A Raisin in the Sun (Entire)

Film, Music and Slide Presentation: Film: Eyes on the Prize: America at the Racial Crossroads: “Two Societies 1965-68” Music: “Ball of Confusion” Slide Presentation: Physical Quality of Life A Presentation (Monday). 

Classroom instruction: This week we will discuss the play A Raisin in the Sun. Professor Ted Manley, Jr. will lead us in performing a scene from the play. How is the play associated with the physical and social construction of the original "black belt" in Chicago and the way in which it is distinguished from the second Black Metropolis? Students should come to class prepared to discuss the challenges of de Jure (by law) Jim Crow segregation in the south and de facto (by custom) segregation in the north. Also, the unconstitutionality of restrictive covenants in Shelly v Kramer 1948 and the passage of the fair housing act of 1968 “opened” housing for Blacks and sparked a cycle of racial change and white flight in Chicago. 

Homework assignment: Please keep-up with the readings. It helps for understanding the lecture and class discussion. This time you will be responsible for showing up at the field-site on your own with you team member. A supervisor—the instructor, community coordinator, and other team members-- will meet your team at the designated project site. You will be given instructions this week on making physical, social, economic, and political maps of the neighborhood

Qualitative and Photographic Training: On Monday April 4th all students will receive the Black Metropolis qualitative curriculum. Please review for our qualitative and photographic training on Wednesday April 6th. Students will begin qualitative and photographic training on how to observe and take notes on your observations from the field. You will be asked to map the physical, social, religious, economic, and political spaces in the project area. Some of the mapping exercise may not be easy but you shouldn't get frustrated because the team of supervisors will provide you with continual feedback on your mapping assignments. The qualitative training will begin to prepare you for your second field site visit. Photographic training will consist of students being trained to use existing photographs taken by the project and how to take new photographs representing the changes occurring in the project site. All teams will be trained on using cameras. You will be trained to conduct unobtrusive measures where you capture reality by not bringing attention to yourself or the person you are filming unless asked to do so. This year we will focus on children and parents as we attempt to capture on film their hopes, desires, pain, and despair. 

Reminder: Journals are due Wednesday April 6th in class. Journals will be returned to you on Monday. Your second field note recording of the designated field sites for this week is due Monday April 11th in class.

          

Week Three: April 11th and 13th.

Lecture and discussion topic: The “collapse” of the machine and the Election of Harold Washington: Come Alive October 5.”

Film: “Harold Washington, 1983-1987.”

Music: “Dancing in the Street” (Martha & The Vandellas)

Reading assignments: “Harold Washington: Reform Mayor, Black Messiah” And Machine Politics, Reform Style.” In Bitter Fruit. The Hip Hop Generation: Chapters. 7 & 8.

Classroom instruction: On Monday, April 11th William Grimshaw, author of the book Bitter Fruit, will engage us in a discussion on the life and politics of Harold Washington to unveil the dilemma Black/African leadership confronts in the 21st century. What vision and political ideology did Harold Washington bring to Blacks in particular and, Chicago, in general? 

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the reading. Teams will meet at designated areas in the project site this week to conduct supervised field observations. You will be given on Wednesday the third supervised field observation site to conduct your field research. You and your team member will be responsible for showing up at the field-site on your own. A supervisor-- instructor, community coordinator, and other team members-- will meet your team at the designated project site.

Bibliographic Training: On Wednesday April 13th we begin bibliographic instruction with our mind to beginning to research literature on the process of redevelopment in the project site:  Bronzeville. We’ll focus on keys issues in housing, education, economy, environment and safety. The training you will receive this week in bibliographic instruction and research is meant to prepare you and your team member for the multicultural project. 

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday April 13th. Field notes from our third supervised field observations are due on Monday April 18th.

 

Week Four: April 18th and April 20th    

Lecture and discussion topic: Defending white neighborhoods: The role of federal, state and local agencies and their protection of white interest.

Films and Music: “Fred Hampton and Daley” “What’s Goin’ On?” “The Revolution will not be televised” “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” (Monday). 

Reading assignments: “The Daley Legacy: From Machine Politics to Racial Politics.” In Bitter Fruit.  Hand-out The Hip Hop Generation: Ch. 3.  

Classroom instruction: Today in class we’ll cover a broad history to arrive in the tumultuous era of the 70s and Black Nationalism. We will pay particular attention to the success of the Civil Rights Movement and its demise after King’s assassination. The rise of Black Power, the Black Panther Party and Black Nationalism in the 70s will be discussed in the context of the death of Daley (King Richard the 1st) and the Chicago machine.

Finally, we discuss the rise of racial politics and a Black Messiah. Why did race become an issue in Chicago? Why couldn’t race be mobilized off of the agenda in the 1970s? We should think about what a Democracy is when the only people able to take advantage of freedom are those people who call themselves white? If whites are the perpetrators of Black disadvantage, isolation, and discrimination then what must blacks do?  What impact did the Black Power Movement and the murder of Fred Hampton have on the Daley machine?

Homework assignments: The readings for this week are more complex and descriptively thick. You will be given on Wednesday the fourth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research. You and your team member will be responsible for showing up at the field-site on your own. A supervisor--instructor, community coordinator, and other team members-- will meet your team at the designated project site. You will continue to record physical, social, economic, and political maps of the neighborhood as well as observe and record non-verbal communication of everyday life on the streets in Bronzeville 

Quantitative Training: On Monday April 18th all teams will receive the Black Metropolis quantitative curriculum in preparation for quantitative training on Wednesday April 20th.  Please review the curriculum before class on April 20th. All students are required to use Bronzeville database at http:/ qrc.depaul.edu When you log on to this website navigate to the left column and click on Excel files. Toggle down to Bronzeville and single click. Choose the file “Bronzeville data with field data” which contains primary data on the physical quality of life database. You’ll receive quantitative instruction on how to use the data base during the fourth and fifth weeks of the course.

All teams will be trained to analyze, manipulate and interpret quantitative data related to the project percent change, hardship index and projections. In addition, students will learn the best way to present the data using pie charts, line graphs and mapping techniques (classroom location to be determined).

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday April 20th. Field notes from our fourth supervised field observations are due on Monday April 25th. All students will receive a copy of a previous mid-term exam in preparation for the mid-term take home exam that will be handed out on Wednesday April 27th. We will review for the mid-term take home exam on Wednesday April 27th. Please keep-up with the readings. 

 

Week Five: April 25th and April 27th

Lecture and discussion: Low and high rise public housing: Ida B. Wells and the Darrow Homes:  the consequences of a policy of confinement.

Reading assignments: Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago. Preface and Parts I and II. Pp. 11-155. The Hip Hop Generation: Chs. 2-4 

Music: “Product of the Environment” (3rd Bass) “Book of Life” (Common)


Classroom instruction: We will discuss the consequences of the color line and its derivative—a policy of confinement. Our task is to understand how the violence, drugs, and vice depicted in Our America are intricately tied and interwoven into to a policy of confinement where access to good schools, jobs, safety, recreation, health and housing for African Americans are rooted in a dream deferred. We seek to understand what white social forces, political, economic, historical, and social shaped, influenced and caused the geographical settlement and experiences of African Americans in Chicago?

Homework assignments: The mid-term take home exam will be handed out in class on Wednesday April 27th. Please keep-up with the readings. Teams will be given on Wednesday the fifth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research. You and your team member will be responsible for showing up at the field-site on your own. A supervisor--instructor, community coordinator, and other team members-- will meet your team at the designated project site.

Quantitative Training:  On Wednesday April 27th all teams will receive their final training quantitative analysis (see Black Metropolis quantitative curriculum; classroom location to be determined).

Mid-term Exam: The mid-term will be handed out on Wednesday April 27th with instructions. The mid-term will be take-home and is due the following Wednesday May 4th before class begins.

Town Hall meetings:  We will begin to prepare for the first of three town hall meetings in the project site.

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday April 27th. Field notes from our fifth supervised field observations are due on Monday, May 2nd before class. In addition, the Mid-term take home exam is due on Wednesday may 4th before class begins.

 

Week Six: May 2nd and 4th 

Lecture and discussion: Making it through the maze: I hope I survive.

Music and Slide presentation: “Public Housing Deterioration and Economic Growth Chicago Style” “The Message”  “Never Let Me Down” (Kanye West) (Monday).

Reading assignments: Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago. Part III Pp. 158-201. The Hip Hop Generation: Chapters. 5

Classroom instruction: In Our America how do LeAlan and Lloyd survive the maze? How many fall through the cracks? Are these throwaway children? Drugs, gangs and vice are symptoms of broader structural consequences associated with economic deterioration, housing quality and demolition, and the loss of hope 

Homework assignments: All teams will be given on Wednesday the sixth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research. You and your team member will be responsible for showing up at the field-site on your own. A supervisor--instructor, community coordinator, and other team members-- will meet your team at the designated project site.

Town Hall meetings:  On Wednesday we will have a rehearsal for the first town hall meetings at the George Cleveland Hall branch library on Monday May 9th from 5:30-7:30pm in the project site

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday May 4th. Field notes from your sixth supervised field observations are due on Monday, May 9th.

 

Week Seven: May 9th and 11th.

Lecture and discussion: Revitalization, gentrification, and economic development in Bronzeville: The cases of Douglas and Grand Boulevard.

Music and Slide presentation: “My City” (Common) (Monday) Who’s in, who’s out: Housing in Bronzeville. (Wednesday)

Required readings: “Who’s in, who’s out in the Bronzeville Boom.” (Handout) In The Chicago Reporter. Pp. 2-9. “CHA’s Commuter Kids: Housing tumbles, school enrollment falls Hundreds of children travel back for school.” In Catalyst (April 2001) Pp. 4-13. “Already: Bronzeville.” The Journal of Ordinary Thought (December 2001) Pp. 1-36. The Hip Hop Generation: Ch. 2.

Classroom instruction: Who’s in and who’s out? Who benefits? Who loses? Why?

Homework assignments: We will hold our first town hall meeting on Monday May 9th at the George Cleveland Hall branch library from 5:30-7:30pm. Please keep-up with the readings. All teams will be given on Wednesday the seventh supervised field observation site to conduct your field research. You and your team member will be responsible for showing up at the field-site on your own. A supervisor--instructor, community coordinator, and other team members-- will meet your team at the designated project site.

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday May 11th.  Field notes from your seventh supervised field observations are due on Monday, May 16th.

 

Week Eight: May 16th and 18th

Lecture and discussion: The Robert Taylor Homes: The rise of a modern ghetto.

Reading assignment: American Project: The Rise and fall of a Modern Ghetto Forward, Preface, Introduction and Chapters 1-3 Pp. ix-152.

Film and music: “Color Adjustment: Good Times” and the legacy of Zip Coon. Music: “Think.”

Classroom instruction: Based on our oral histories with contemporary and historical figures that grew up in Robert Taylor Homes what was it like in the beginning of the Modern ghetto?

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the readings. All teams will develop written progress reports documenting work on their assigned projects. We expect to see written field observations, summary statistics on data collected this far (Bar Graphs, Line Charts, Pie Charts etc.), a list describing the photos' you have taken and your best sample of photos' and finally, preliminary interpretations of the information and materials collected towards the project. All teams will be given on Wednesday the eighth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research. You and your team member will be responsible for showing up at the field-site on your own. A supervisor--instructor, community coordinator, and other team members-- will meet your team at the designated project site.

Town Hall meetings:  On Wednesday we will continue to prepare for the second town hall meetings at the Dr. Martin Luther King branch library on Thursday May 26th from 5:30-7:30pm in the project site.

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday May 19th.  Field notes from our eighth supervised field observations are due on Wednesday May 23rd

 

Week Nine: May 23rd and 25th.

Lecture and discussion: The Robert Taylor Homes: The Fall of a Modern Ghetto.

Reading assignments: American Project: The Rise and fall of a Modern Ghetto Chapters 4-6 Pp.153-287. The Hip Hop Generation: Chapters. 1 & 5.

Music and Slide Presentation: “Fight the Power” “Survival of the Fittest” (Mobb Deep

Classroom instruction: Avery will lead discussion on the gang as a symptom of structural inequality, poverty and economic dependency. Caleb will discuss the history of tenant control and struggle and the raising of the Robert Taylor Homes. 

Homework assignment: Please keep-up with the readings. All teams will be given on Wednesday the ninth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research. You and your team member will be responsible for showing up at the field-site on your own. A supervisor--instructor, community coordinator, and other team members-- will meet your team at the designated project site.

Town Hall meetings:  On Wednesday we will have a rehearsal for the second town hall meetings at the Dr. Martin Luther King branch library on Thursday May 26th from 5:30-7:30pm in the project site.

Reminder: Reflective book review of A Raisin in the Sun is due May 25th. Journals are due Wednesday May 25th. Field notes from your ninth supervised field observations are due on Wednesday June 1st.
 

Week Ten: May 30th (no class) and June 1st.

Lecture and discussion: Bronzeville at the Crossroads: The role of African American leadership, at the community and individual level.

Reading assignment: The Hip Hop Generation. Chapters 6-8.

Classroom instruction: We will discuss the future of Bronzeville and the need for sustained leadership and, community and individual involvement.

Homework assignment: We will review all work for the final project presentation on Wednesday June 1st. Final project presentations will be held on June 8th (in the BMP project classroom) The presentations on June 8th will count as the tenth supervised field observation. Also, help and assistance will be provided this week and during finals week to complete final project papers.

Town Hall meetings:  On Wednesday we will have a rehearsal for the third and final town hall meetings at the Chicago Bee library on Monday June 6th from 5:30-7:30pm in the project site 

Reminder: Journals and field notes are due on Wednesday June 1st.

Classroom evaluations: The project team will conduct evaluations of the class during this week. All teams are encouraged to be candid and honest in evaluating the class.

 

Finals Week: June 6th and 8th.

Class time for group assignments: Review materials and information collected for project and assist in writing final project paper. 

Town Hall meeting: On Monday we will present our final town hall meeting at the Chicago Bee library from 5:30-7:30pm.

Classroom instruction: Ted Manley, Jr. and Caleb Dube will meet with students at our normal class time during finals week. Their goal is to discuss and assist all project teams in completing their assigned projects. On Wednesday, June 8th final presentations and final projects are due.

 

VI        Grade evaluation scale. 

Undergraduate students:

                                                                                                Points

Journal                                                                                    100

Field work experience                                                            100

Mid-term (includes training in fieldwork, bibliographic,

photography, quantitative, and web page instruction etc.)    100

Book review                                                                           100

Multicultural Service Learning Project                                 200

Total points                                                                             600

Grade scale: A= 540; B+= 530; B= 480; C+= 470; C=420; D+= 410; D=360
 

High School Students:

                                                                                                Points

Journal                                                                                    100

Mid-term (includes training in field work, bibliographic,

photography, quantitative, and web page instruction etc.)    100

Book review                                                                           100

Multicultural Service Learning Project                                 200

Total points                                                                             500

Grade scale: A= 450; B+= 440; B= 400; C+= 390; C=350; D+= 340; D=300

 


 

Journal Rubric

Purpose: The purpose of the journal is to have an early assessment of the writing ability of the student in short form. The journal must show proper grammatical structure of simple to complex sentences with the use of proper pronouns, active and passive verbs, conjunctions, etc. The grading of the journal is based on reading reflection from specific content from the reading (e.g. what did the student absorb and know about the reading); reflecting on the relationship of the reading to the films, field site, and class lecture and discussion. Finally the journal should include their own personal expressions of what they are learning and what they find difficult and hard to understand. 

Grading scale on a ten point system: 

+ (Plus)  = Excellent sentence structure, reading content, relationship of reading to films, field site, classroom discussion and lecture, and their own personal expressions of what they are learning and what they find difficult and hard to understand. 

*+  (Check plus) = Above average sentence structure, reading content, relationship of reading to films, field site, classroom discussion and lecture.  Above average includes proper sentence structure but less reflective of their own experiences of what they are learning and what they find difficult and hard to understand.  

*  (Check) = Average sentence structure usually with some problems in writing including improper sentence structure, clear difficulty in understanding the reading and less reflective of personal experiences. Person may be somewhat reflective on what they are finding difficult to understand.  

*- (Check minus) = below average sentence structure with serious problems in writing style and structure. Person requires immediate intervention. 

- (Minus) = Failure to write complete sentences. Unable to express any knowledge of reading, class discussion, lecture and field site experiences. 

 

Black Metropolis II

(1975-2000)

SOC 392/394/290

Spring, 2005

Reflective Book Review Outline

 

The reflective book review of A Raisin in the Sun, should address the central points in the play and its conclusions. By reflective I mean to think about your experience prior to taking the course and how the information, lectures, discussions, field work and team conversations influenced your experiences about the rise of the Black Metropolis and the violence, fear, prejudice, and animosity of whites toward Blacks in the North and the South. Focus on the following themes in your book review.

a)      The central focus of the book and the everyday reality of a Black family living in Chicago on the south side. In addition, focus on the internal and external dynamics of race, class gender and culture that were present in a variety of scenes. Why did Walter want to open his own business? Why did Mama want Walter to be man?  Was there a generational gap?

b)      What was the relationship between Beneatha, George and Asagai? How did Black Nationalism and assimilation affect her self-identity and the dynamics of her family?

c)      How does the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, represented by Mr. Linder, signify the reality of white neighborhood fear and communal defense of their neighborhood? Would the Younger family, in the real world of Chicago, face a white mob and violent rejection?

d)      The reflection should include your creative thoughts, insights, and thinking as they relate to your fieldwork experiences, the reading, class discussions, lectures, and team conversations involving A Raisin in the Sun.

 


 

The multicultural cooperative group project based service learning field study portfolio

Outline

Introduction:

Students enrolled in Sociology 394/290 are required to complete the multicultural cooperative group project based service learning field study portfolio. Each class participant will be assigned to a team to conduct a micro-level community analysis. Bronzeville. The micro-level community analysis of Bronzeville must include: 

  1. The history and social evolution of the local community and its agency (ies), organization (s), bureaucracy (ies);
  1. The current status of the physical/spatial landscape including one or all of the following indicators: religion, culture, economic, education, health, politics, environment, safety, recreation, entertainment and;
  1. The relationship of the local economy of the neighborhood to the central business district of Chicago and, where possible, the global urban society (200 points).

 The portfolio should include the following information

  1. A demographic description of the local community areas of Douglas and Grand Boulevard —social, cultural, political and economic characteristics (family type (e.g., single, married); housing quality and type; age structure of neighborhood; income distribution; educational attainment; etc.). In addition, survey data from our community survey should be used in this section of your paper and presentation.
  1. A pictorial analysis of the physical quality of the neighborhoods (e.g., pictures of vacant lots; abandoned autos; demolished housing units; vaulted sewers, curbs; busted water mains; maintenance of public way; quality of recreational facilities; crime etc.) the agency serves.
  1. Recorded field notes of your observations of everyday life events, situations, and encounters.
                                                                                                               

Field notes should include: 

a) Specific detail descriptions of the physical landscape of the local neighborhood (specific maps and locations of frequent signs of deterioration, decline, growth, and use of land in the local neighborhood). 

b) Specific observations of behavior and situations which occur frequently in the local neighborhood. Please record everyday life events and relationships (people on the street, family, youth, adults, men, women, commercial strip patterns, local social gatherings, churches, clubs, organizations, institutions etc.) 

  1. Interviews with community people on the social, cultural, political and economic development of the local community of Bronzeville (e.g., ward alderperson, ward committee person, congress person, precinct captain, block club president (s), staff and executive directors of community based organizations (CBO's) etc.,). Focus the interviews on the committees they each serve on; urban policies impacting the area (e.g., empowerment zones, private investments, real estate investments, financial/bank investments).

 Resources: The Black Metropolis Web Page www.depaul.edu/~blackmet Quantitative Reasoning Center Web Page http://qrc.depaul.edu/ Digital Chicago (found on most web browser. Local Community Fact Book (reference desk in the Richardson Library) 
 

                                                 

 Field Study/Project Based Portfolio   

Cooperative Team Rules and Guidelines

INTRODUCTION

The Field Study/Project Based Portfolio is designed for student teams to work collectively to complete a cooperative team project on your assigned theme (e.g., Health, Housing, Education, and Religion). Each team will gather information on a specific theme and develop a portfolio to highlight information published since 1890 on the theme.  

By cooperative team I mean working together to accomplish a shared goal, the Field Study/Project Based Portfolio. The field study/project based portfolio should be a descriptive and analytical narration of the data collected to show your knowledge and understanding of the theme—its causes and consequences. 

By cooperative team learning I mean the use of small groups of students working together to maximize they’re own and each other's learning. 

Within your cooperative learning teams, students are given two responsibilities:  

1. To collect data (quantitative and qualitative) to learn about the theme understudy. 

2. To make sure that all other members of their group do likewise. 

In order for the cooperative learning team to be productive five essential elements are necessary: 

1. Positive interdependence in which each member can succeed only if all members succeed;  

2. Face-to-face promotive interaction students assist and support each other's efforts to achieve; 

3. Individual accountability to ensure that all members do their fair share of the work; 

4. Interpersonal and small group skills required to work cooperatively with others and; 

5. Group processing in which groups reflect on how well they are working together and how their effectiveness as a group may be improved. 

The field study/project based portfolio will be graded as one project although several people may have participated in the project. All members of the group will equally share the grade given the project.

Honesty policy

There are unfortunate situations where one or two members of the cooperative learning team are not doing their “fair share” of work. In this situation an honesty policy will be followed. The honesty policy requires that there be a jointly composed and written letter from the cooperative learning team stating that a “fair share” of work was not completed by one or two members of the group (documentation of incomplete work is required). All team members, including members charged with not doing their “fair share,” must sign the honesty policy letter.  

The instructor reviews the letter. All information supporting the charge is taken into consideration. A decision will be made to not treat each team member’s work on the project as equal. The final decision involves a meeting with each team member charged with not doing his or her “fair share” to discuss their lack of “fair share” work and the grading policy for their actions.  
 


  Rubric for Final Presentations

Black Metropolis Project

Spring 2005 

Name (s) _______________________________________________________________

Field Project name ____________________ 

Please rank the following on a scale of A = Excellent; B = Above Average; C = Average; D = below average; F = Failure 

Use of historical and contemporary literature related to content of presentation?  Rank = __________ 

Comments:

  

Use of demographic and quantitative information related to the content of presentation? Rank = __________  

Comments:

 

Clarity of explaining quantitative information related to the presentation?  Rank = __________ 

Comments:

 

Use of qualitative information (field notes, interviews, photographs) related to content of presentation? Rank = __________

 Comments:

 

Clarity in explaining and interpreting qualitative information (e.g., field notes, photographs, interviews) related to content of presentation? Rank = __________ 

Comments:

 

Lay out of Power point presentation? Rank = __________ 

 

Journal articles in a database

American History & Life
Finds journal articles about US and Canadian history

Sociological Abstracts
Finds journal articles and book chapters

Print material

DePaul University Electronic Reserves http://www.lib.depaul.edu/e-Reserves/e-reserves.html

Ethnic Chicago: a Muliticultural Portrait
Lincoln Park - Reference - R. 305.8 E84h

Ethnic Handbook: a Guide to the Cultures and Traditions of Chicago's Diverse Communities
Lincoln Park - Reference - R. 977.311089 E84L 1996

Maps

1. African/American Community Areas
2. Income Levels of African American Population in Chicago by Community Areas, 1990
3. Census Tracts of Chicago, 1910
4. Census Tracts of Chicago, 1920
5. African American Community Areas in Chicago, 1960
6. African American Community Areas in Chicago, 1970
7. African American Community Areas in Chicago, 1980
8. Number of Home Improvement Loans, 1988
9. Number of Family Loans, 1988
10. Total Private Investment in Residential Housing, 1980-1989
11. Percent Gain or Loss in Housing Units 1980-1985
12. New Housing Units Constructed in Chicago 1980-1985
13. Housing Units Demolished in Chicago 1980-1985
14. Number of Substandard Housing Units
15. Number of Properties on Tax Sale List, 1986
16. Number of VA/FHA Loans, 1988
17. Number of Conventional Loans, 1988

The Report "Black Metropolis Revisited: The Strength and Resilience of African American Community Organizations, A Need Assessment Report" can be purchased from the Hoop Institute at hoopinstitute@aol.com

Previous Syllabi

Autumn 2000
Winter 2001
Spring 2001
Autumn 2001
Winter 2002
Autumn 2002
Winter 2003
Spring 2003
Autumn 2003
Winter 2004

Spring 2004

Autumn 2004

Winter 2005

Spring 2005

 

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