SYLLABUS

The Black Metropolis II: 1890-1950 

Autumn  2003

SOC 394 Section 101                                         Instructor: Ted Manley, Jr. 

SOC 290 Section 101                                         Office Hours: Tuesday 11:00am-1:00pm

MW 4:00-5:30pm                                               Office: # 1113 1st floor Dietzgen Building, 990 Fullerton SE corner of Sheffield

Faculty Hall LL107                                            Tele: (773) 325-4718  

E-mail: tmanley@depaul.edu

Permanent classroom and office: Our permanent classroom and the Black Metropolis project office is located in the basement of the Steans Center for Community based Service Learning. The Steans center is located in Faculty Hall at 2233 North Kenmore Avenue. Our office number is Lower Level #104 (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.

Team members:

Caleb Dube (773) 325-4672 cdube@depaul.edu

Caryn Olsen (Undergraduate Research assistant) (773) 325-2489 colsen@depaul.edu

Molly Szymanski (Community Coordinator) (773) 325-2489 punky_mks@hotmail.com

Support staff:

David Jabon (Quantitative Instructor) (773) 325-7248 djabon@depaul.edu

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

Steve Harp (Photography Instructor) (773) 325-4748 sharp@depaul.edu

Required Books:  

Richard Wright. 1940. Native Son New York: Quality paperback Book Club.

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

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

Charles Keil 1970. Urban Blues Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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

Web page and linkage resources:

The project web page is located on the internet 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; film file; photography file; Map file; Data base file. The web page is linked to a variety of resources for students. These include but are not limited 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 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 (312-747-6900). The Harsh collection 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 titled 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’s 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: 1890-1945 Black Metropolis I, 1945-1975 Black Metropolis II, and the period 1975- to the 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.

In the first sequence, the period from 1890 to 1950, we will compare, examine and analyze the relationship between historical and contemporary indicators associated with change--health, housing, education, economy, politics, environment, culture, lifestyle and leisure, and safety-in the Black Metropolis. A variety of data gathering techniques: demographic, survey, unobtrusive photography, participant observation, black film research, and qualitative oral history interviews will be used by faculty, staff and students. This information is vital to the examination of historical and contemporary patterns, trends, and changes among a set of variables measuring the quality of life in Bronzeville since the last-half century. These data will provide the project team and students with the means to understand, interpret, and explain the type and kind of changes that occurred in the Black Metropolis over the last-half century.

II.            Course objectives.

There are three 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 century.  

2.                    To assess, support, and assist student development of technological skills, critical thinking and cooperative group learning through focused team 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 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 to maintain online communication and to monitor individual and group performance.

2.        Required 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 help! 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 September 17th. All Journals will be read and graded by the instructor and undergraduate research assistant (100 points).

3.        Fieldwork, service learning, and research training short essay/multiple choice take-home exam. Handed-out on Wednesday October 15th and is due October 22nd. The exam will cover all reading and lecture materials and the 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 and software application focusing on the application of mathematical skills, power point presentation, and social science data manipulation skills (100 points).

4.        Field note training/exercises and assignments (due every Monday), photographic training/exercises and assignments, bibliographic instruction/exercises and assignments, technology training/exercises and assignments (100 points)

5.        Reflective book review of Urban Blues due November 10th, 2002 (100 points). The book review must focus on the historical and contemporary role of African American music (Blues, Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop, and Rap) in Bronzeville, the relationship between rural blues and urban blues (the Trans-spatial relationship), and how the blues signified and testified to the trails 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.

6.        The multi-cultural cooperative group project based service learning field study portfolio due Monday November 19th, 2001. The multicultural project based service learning field study portfolio starts on the first day of class. It is a group project that is faculty guided and supervised with the assistance of a graduate research assistant, community coordinator and undergraduate research assistants. It consists of faculty supervised field observations totaling 4 hours per week in the field site. Every week students will conduct four hours of faculty led field observations to designated sites in the project area. On other days student teams will schedule with the instructor, graduate research assistant, community coordinator, and undergraduate research assistants, field visits to one of five service learning sites accumulating to no less than 4 hours per week at each site (200 points). (See Multicultural Project Based Service learning field study portfolio handout). Copies of old project based field study portfolios are available for review. Please ask instructor.

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

 Week One: 1st day of class (1/2 week): September 10th. Lecture and discussion topic: The Black Metropolis project, the Great Migration, early black settlement in Chicago and, the American legacy of segregation and its manifest and latent consequences.

 Reading assignments: In Black Chicago Preface and Introduction Pp. vii-8. In Black Metropolis Introduction and Introduction to the Torch book Edition. Pp. xvii-x1.

Film and Music: ‘Goin’ To Chicago’ (Film) Billie Holiday - “Strange Fruit” Eomot RaSun - “Going to Chicago”

Classroom instruction: On the first day of class students will meet the research team and we will review the syllabus 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 field-visit to the project site. Students will receive field notebooks, journal notebooks, pens and pencils in preparation for field note recording and journal writing.

Service/Experiential Learning Team: All students will participate on the Physical Quality of life Team. This team will collect data weekly (every Saturday) to update the physical quality of life database that was started in autumn 2000.

There are three related service and experiential learning community based projects linked to the physical quality of life team. The first project is called the Oral History of Douglas and Grand Boulevard. This project involves completing a oral history videotape documentary designed to provide an historical record for the community on the changing structure and management of public housing since the last half of the twentieth century. The second project is called 47t Street. This project involves weekly observations on Saturday to photograph old and new businesses along the strip and interview business owners. The third project is called the Community Survey. This project involves analyzing the community survey sent to over 5,000 residences in the project site.

The final portfolio is a comprehensive analysis and presentation of the physical quality of life database as it relates to the housing, oral history, commercial, survey data, objective and subjective, taken from each project used to analyze the changes in Bronzeville since the last half century.

Homework assignment: A supervised field-visit to the Black Metropolis/Bronzeville is scheduled for September 13th. All student teams will meet at 12:30pm in the project classroom on Saturday September 13th. We will take a bus to the project site and, depending on the weather, take a walking tour of some selected areas in Douglas and Grand Boulevard. We will review the remaining portions of the project site by bus. 

Reminder: You should begin recording your thoughts in your journal about the course, the project and your role (how do you feel, what do you see, what does the project site remind you of?). We will collect journals on Wednesday September 17th. 

Week Two: September 15th and 17th. Lecture and discussion topic: The historical, physical and social construction of the Black Metropolis.

Reading assignments: In Black Chicago Chapters 1 and2 Pp. 11-50 In Black Metropolis Part III Chapter 14 Bronzeville Pp.379-397 and Chapter 15 The Power of the Press and the Pulpit Pp. 398-429.

Film and Music: ‘The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords’ (Film) Lauryn Hill – “Every Ghetto, Every City”

Classroom instruction: This week we will discuss the reason (s) associated with the physical and social construction of the original "black belt" in Chicago. Students should come to class prepared to discuss the challenges of dejure (by law) Jim Crow segregation in the south and defacto (by custom) segregation in the north. We begin to discuss the role of music and the media in understanding the plight and advancement of Blacks in Chicago. Also, we will begin to discuss class distinctions in Bronzeville. What is the origin of class distinctions in the Black/African American community?

Homework assignment: Please keep-up with the readings. It helps for understanding the lecture and class discussion. Today we will begin qualitative 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. 

All class participants will be trained to use cameras. You will be trained to conduct unobtrusive measures where you capture reality by not bringing attention to yourself or the person you are photographing unless asked to do so.

Reminder: Journals are due Wednesday September 17th in class. Journals will be returned to you on the following Monday. Your field note recordings of the walking and bus tour of Bronzeville are due Monday September 15th in class. We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on Wednesday September 17th.

Week Three: September 22nd and 24th. Lecture and discussion topic: The Rise of the Black Ghetto.

Reading assignments: In Black Chicago Chapters 3-4 Pp. 51-90 In Black Metropolis Chapter 16 Negro Business: Myth and Fact Pp. 430-469 and Chapter 17 Business under a Cloud Pp. 470-494.

Film and Music: Ethnic Notions (film) Donny Hathaway – “The Ghetto”

Classroom instruction: This week we will discuss ideological differences in the black experience and the conditions under which these differences took shape and matured into a vision for Black Chicago. Students will come to understand how slavery, emancipation, and Jim Crow (separate but equal) were the foundations for building a racial hierarchy in America where white was supreme and all the "other" people could do was dream and hope for a promised land. In addition, we will take a deep look into the economic vitality, initiative, and resiliency of the Negro in Chicago and how the name Negro emerged from multiple labels used since the 15th century to define and categorize enslaved Africans in the Americas. Later, in the 1960s Black would take the place of Negro. Why?

Homework assignments: The readings for this week are more complex and descriptively thick. This week we begin bibliographic instruction with our mind to beginning to research key issues in religion, health, politics, 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 assigned project you will be given on Wednesday for the remainder of the course with your team member and the project team. You will be given the second supervised field observation site to conduct your field research on Wednesday. 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 teams 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 Bronzville.

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday September 24th. Field notes from your second supervised field observation are due on Monday September 22nd. We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on Wednesday September 22nd.

 Week Four: September 29th and October 1st. Lecture and discussion topic: The Institutionalization of the Black Ghetto.

Reading assignments: In Black Chicago Chapters 5 and 6 Pp. 91-128 In Black Metropolis Chapter 18 The Measure of the Man Pp. 495-525 and Chapter 19 Style of Living—Upper Class Pp. 526-563

Photography and Music: In Chicago’s South Side Forward, Essays and Photographs. Bill Withers – “Harlem” Rick James – “Ghetto Life” Grandmaster Flash – “The Message” Joe – “Ghetto Child”.

Classroom instruction: The great migration was the largest population distribution of a single racial/ethnic group in the history of the United States. African Americans changed from a rural Southern-based population to a Northern urban based population during the first (WWI) and second (WWII) great migrations. Also, we will discuss the diversity of leadership in the emerging black belt and the quest for self-sufficiency. What role did the great migration play in challenging, supporting, and changing the diversity of black leadership in black Chicago? What was the white reaction and why? What was the role of government institutions and private business institutions? What is the Measure of the Man? What factors created the Upper Class? How did Black music shape and capture these experiences?

Extra Credit: Choose a photo from the Chicago’ South Side book and attempt to draw a correlation (how one event, situation, scene etc. is related to another) of a picture and the migration experience of Blacks in Chicago (50 points). Due October 6th, 2003

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the reading. All teams will be trained to analyze quantitative data for manipulation and interpretation. Students will have ongoing access to the Quantitative Reasoning Center (QRC). The Quantitative Reasoning Center is located on the second floor of the Schmitt Academic Center (SAC) in room 268 (Quantitative Reasoning Center). The QRC web site is located at http://qrc.depaul.edu

Teams will meet at designated areas in the project site this week to conduct supervised field observations. You will be given the third supervised field observation site to conduct your field research on Wednesday. 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 October 1st. Field notes from the third supervised field observation are due on Monday September 29th. We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on Wednesday September 29th. 

Week Five: October 6th and 8th. Lecture and discussion: Across the lines: From the South to the South side.

Reading assignments: In Black Chicago Chapters 7 and 8 Pp. 129-166 Urban Blues Introduction Pp. 1-29 and Chapter One African American Music Pp. 30-49

Music: Robert Johnson/Kokomo Arnold – “Sweet Home Chicago”

Classroom instruction: We will discuss the social construction of whiteness in America within the context of the color line and its impact on Black settlement in Chicago. Our task is to understand what white social forces, political, economic, historical, and social shaped and influenced the geographical settlement and experiences of blacks in Chicago? We will devote time this week to mapping the racial change and segregation of blacks in Chicago. Also, we will begin to systematically interpret, define and analyze the role of music in the life of African Americans.  We will examine the evolution of blues styles in the city and how the spatial distribution of jazz and blues is related to institutions that mirrored segregation and the geographical settlement of Blacks in Chicago. Finally, some attention will be given to classical blues and the use of Black women blues singers as a product of white insulation from Black male singers.  

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the readings. All teams will receive technology training in power point, micro-soft word, web page design and construction, and excel at the Quantitative Reasoning Center (QRC). Many of you may already have these technology skills so consider your training a refresher course to learn the latest upgrades. Students will have ongoing access to the Quantitative Reasoning Center. The Quantitative Reasoning Center is located on the second floor of the Schmitt Academic Center (SAC) in room 268 (Quantitative Reasoning Center).

Teams will be given the fourth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research on Wednesday. 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: Preparation for the mid-term will begin this week. Journals are due on Wednesday October 8th. Field notes from our fourth supervised field observations are due on Monday, October 6th. We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on Wednesday October 8th.

Week Six: October 13th and 15th. Lecture and discussion: Northern "Jim Crow" and the paradox of "the Promised Land": Up from slavery or post-Slavery?

Reading assignments: In Black Metropolis Chapter 20 Lower Class: Sex and Family Pp. 564-599 and Chapter 21 The World of the Lower Class Pp. 600-657 In Urban Blues Chapter Two Blues Styles: An Historical Sketch Pp. 50-68

Music: Louis Jordan “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens” Stevie Wonder – “Cash in Your Face”

Classroom instruction: What factors shaped Black delusion about the "Promised Land"? How did Chicago mirror the racial hierarchy of the South? Earlier we spoke about the historical, physical and social construction of Black Chicago, this week we investigate some of the actions taken by whites to solidify the boundaries of Black settlement and to defend white boundaries from Black advancement. What did northern whites fear and how did industries of the North perpetuate those fears? Did the Great Migration of World War I become the scapegoat for the northern capitalist/industrialist and their possessive investment in whiteness? What consequences did this have for the Upper and Lower class? What role did music play in mediating a strategy or coping mechanism to deal with the despair, loss of hope, and a dream deferred?

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the readings. All teams will be given the fifth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research on Wednesday. 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: The mid-term take home essay and training exam will be handed out on Wednesday this week and is due the following Wednesday October 22nd.  Journals are due on Wednesday October 15th. Field notes from your fifth supervised field observations are due on Monday, October 13th. We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on October 15th.

Week Seven: October 20th and 22nd. Lecture and discussion: Revisiting the impact of the migration experience: Black life, economy, politics, and the white response.

Required readings: In Black Chicago Chapters 9 and11 Pp. 167-222 In Black Metropolis Chapter 22 The Middle-class Way of Life Pp. 658-715

Music: Gil Scot Heron – “Inner City Blues” Heavy D & the Boyz – “We’ve Our Own Thang”

Classroom instruction: How did the old and the new Black elite cope with the diversity of lifestyles and experiences in Black Chicago? What social forces restricted Black economic and political life chances? Questions of self-sufficiency became more prominent as Blacks were forced into a racialized division of labor that segmented them into low-wage unprotected jobs. But there were class divisions that distinguished “good” Blacks from “bad” or “Shady” Blacks. How did this happen? Why was the desire to integrate into the mainstream economy achieved by some Blacks and not others? What did they do? What did they gain? What did they lose? Why did white laborers fail to recognize their comparable experience with black laborers? Did European immigrants become white and lose their past to an ethnic vacuum?

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the readings. The mid-term is due on Monday October 21st before the beginning of class.  All teams will be given the sixth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research on Wednesday. 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: Midterms are due on Monday October 20th. Journals are due on Wednesday October 22nd.  Field notes from your sixth supervised field observations are due on Monday, October 21st. Begin reading and attempt to finish this weekend Native Son for discussion during class next week. We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on Wednesday October 22nd

Week Eight: October 27th and 29th. Lecture and discussion: A critical and conscious literary discussion of Native Son.

Reading assignment: Native Son (entire).

Film and Music: ‘Richard Wright: Black Boy’ (Film) Curtis Mayfield – “We are the people who are blacker than blue”  (Chicagoan) James Brown – “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” 

Classroom instruction: The central focus of classroom discussion on Native Son is the murder, the media, racism and Bigger Thomas' modernist characteristics looking at the artistic and literary legacy of Chicago's renaissance--affirming racial identity, rejecting minstrel stereotypes, identifying with Blackness, and celebrating African American culture. Also, when looking at Bigger Thomas as a modernist character we will focus on the personal, familial and social dysfunction and historic disjunctive (man "out of time")--with the rejection of social values, morals, traditions, and assumptions.

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 the seventh supervised field observation site to conduct your field research on Wednesday. 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: Mid-term exams will be returned this week. Journals are due on Wednesday October 29th.  Field notes from our seventh supervised field observations are due on Monday, October 27th.  We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on Wednesday October 29th. 

Week Nine: November 3rd and 5th. Lecture and discussion: Advancing the race

Reading assignments: In Black Metropolis Chapter 23 Pp. 716-754 In Black Chicago Conclusion Pp. 223-230 In Urban Blues Chapter Three Fattening Frogs for Snakes? Pp. 69-95

Music: Sonny Boy Williams - ‘Fattening Frogs for Snakes’ Isley Brothers –‘Fight the Power’

Run DMC – ‘Proud To Be Black’

Classroom instruction: Today class lecture and discussion is on advancing the Race and what folks “back then did” to fight for their freedom and what must people in Bronzeville do now?  You should think about what is a democracy 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? Should they keep “fattening frogs for snakes”? In addition, we will examine the evolution of “race records” and the audiences who consumed them.

Homework assignment: Please keep-up with the readings. All teams will be given the eight supervised field observation site to conduct your field research on Wednesday. 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: Progress reports will be returned on Monday November 3rd. Journals are due on Wednesday November 5th. Field notes from your eight supervised field observations are due on Monday November 3rd. We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on Wednesday November 5th.

Week Ten: November 10th and 12th. Lecture and discussion: What is to come? What do we see?

Reading assignments: In Black Metropolis Part IV Chapter 24 Of Things to Come Pp. 755-767 In Urban Blues Chapter Seven Soul and Solidarity Pp. 164-190

Music: Marvin Gay – ‘What’s Goin’ On”

Classroom instruction: The lecture and discussion is on what is to come and what’s going on? Can we, the class, do anything to stop the seemingly inevitable change that may leave Bronzeville “non-Black”? We will engage in discussion on the souls of Black folks and attempt to unveil the dilemma we all can see to those who are unable to see.

Homework assignment: Please keep-up with the readings. All teams will be given ninth supervised field observation site to conduct your field research on Wednesday. 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: Book review of Charles Keil Urban Blues is due November 10th. Journals are due on Wednesday November 12th. Field notes from our ninth supervised field observations are due on Monday November 10th. We’ll devote ½ hour of class time for reflection on Wednesday November 12th.

Last Day of Class (make-up 1/2 week): November 17th and 19th Lecture and discussion: Review materials and information collected for project. Making Sense of What we have learned, seen, and come to know.

Reading assignment: None.

Classroom instruction: We will meet at our normal class time during finals week. Our goal is to discuss and assist all project teams in completing their assigned projects. Final presentations are on November 19th at 4pm (Location to be Determined).

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.

VI        Grade evaluation scale.

Undergraduate students:

Points
Journal     100
Field work experience 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 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.

Book Review Outline

                The review of Urban Blues is a critical reflection. By review I mean address the central points in the book and its conclusions. By critical reflection 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 Blues in Chicago. Focus on the following themes in your book review.

a)       The central focus of the book on the historical and contemporary role of African American music (Blues, Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop, and Rap) in Bronzeville,

b)       The relationship between rural blues and urban blues (the Trans-spatial relationship).

c)       How the blues signified and testified to the trails and tribulations of the great migration, settlement, adaptation, conflict and change in Bronzeville.

d)       The review should include your critical thoughts, insights, reflection, and thinking on the fieldwork experiences at the Checkerboard (October 12, 2003) and the reading, class discussions, lectures, and team conversations involving Urban Blues.

 

The multicultural cooperative group project based service learning field study portfolio

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:

A)     The history and social evolution of the local community and its agency (ies), organization (s), bureaucracy (ies);

B)      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;

C)      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.

2)       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.

3)       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. Recording everyday life events and relationships (i.e., people on the street, family, youth, adults, men, women, commercial strip patterns, local social gatherings, churches, clubs, organizations, institutions etc. 

4)       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 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/ 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 

Team Members (s) ____________________________

Field Project name ____________________

Please rank the following on a scale of 1 = Excellent; 2 = Above Average; 3 = Average; 4 = Below Average; 5 = Failure

Use of historical and contemporary literature related to content of presentation? 

Rank = __________

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

Rank = _________ 

Clarity of explaining quantitative information related to the presentation? 

Rank = __________

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

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

Rank = __________

Lay out of Power point presentation?

Rank = __________

Use of front page?

Rank =_________