Black Metropolis
The Last Half Century

Hoop Institute and Project Team Bios

The Project:

The Black Metropolis Project is a three-year longitudinal study of the original "Black Belt" located between 26th Street on the north and 55th Street on the south between State Street and Cottage Grove. The project is a joint/collaborative effort of DePaul University and the Hoop Institute.

Hoop Institute:

The Hoop Institute is a not-for-profit research, service and educational organization committed to improving the lives of working people in disenfranchised communities of color (African American, Latino, Asian, Native American) and poor white ethnic. The institute seeks to develop a thorough understanding of the factors that act as a barrier to the growth and development of these communities.

Team Members :

Caleb Dube

Caleb Dube holds a Ph. D in Anthropology from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, an M. Phil degree in folklore, and a B.A. Honors degree in History and African Languages. From 1997 to Summer 2002 he has taught at DePaul University in the Department of Anthropology, and in the Department of Sociology since Fall 2002. Previously he taught at the University of Zimbabwe for eight years in the Department of African Languages and Literature. His areas of research are the production and political economy of African American and African popular culture. 

Theodoric (Ted) Manley, Jr.

Ted Manley, Jr. (Ph.D. University of Chicago, 1986) is an associate professor of Sociology at DePaul University and principal investigator of the Black Metropolis Project: The Last Half-Century. He was co-principal investigator of the Chicago Healthy Start Initiative a federally funded project to reduce infant mortality. He is the author of The Black Metropolis Revisited and has published articles on class segmentation and teaching race and ethnic group relations. He teaches courses on race, ethnicity, class, and gender relations, racial change and segregation, white studies and eradicating white racism, white racism, slavery and racialization and African American culture at DePaul University.

Donald H. Matthews

Donald H. Matthews (PhD. University of Chicago, 1994) is a member of the Sociology and Criminal Justice Department at Saint Louis University. His doctorate is in Religion and the Human Sciences with a concentration in the Psychology and Sociology of Religion from The Divinity School at The University of Chicago. He has published a text: Honoring The Ancestors: An African Cultural Interpretation of Black Religion and Literature, Oxford Press, 1998, as well as numerous articles and professional papers. Most importantly, he grew up in the The Black Metropolis where he attended Forrestville Elementary School and Junior High before attending Lindblom Tech. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University and his master of divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.

Laz Rice

Laz Rice is the primary imaging consultant for the project in his role as photographer, videographer and other imaging capacities. He has worked with and for many photographic organizations including serving as the first African American president of one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious photographic club in the country, FDCCC. He has a bachelor's in photography and has participated in numerous professional workshops. He has spent a large part of his life in the Black Metropolis area attending grade school and high school. He returned to the area a few years ago to live.

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