Syllabus

The Black Metropolis III: 1975-2000
Spring, 2001

Black Metropolis Classroom and Office: The classroom and office for The Black Metropolis Project are located within the Office of Community-based Service Learning (CbSL), which is in the basement of the Vincentian Residence (Faculty Hall) at 2233 North Kenmore Avenue. The office for the Black Metropolis Project is Lower Level #104 (LL104). We can be reached at (773) 325-2489.

Project Team Members

Support Staff

Course Assistants

Required Books:

Nicholas Lemann. 1991. The Promised Land: The Great Migration and How it Changed America.New York: Alfred A. Knopf

Paul Kleppner. 1985. Chicago Divided: The Making of a Black Mayor. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press

Theodoric Manley, Jr. 1995. The Black Metropolis Revisited. Chicago: DePaul University

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

Recommended Readings

Adam Cohen & Elizabeth Taylor. 2000. American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard Daley and His Battle for Chicago and the Nation. New York.: Little, Brown, and Company

Arnold Hirsch. 1983. Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960. New York: Cambridge University Press

Dick Simpson. 2001. Rogues, Rebels, and Rubber Stamps: The Politics of the Chicago City Council from 1863 to the Present. Boulder: Westview Press

Gregory Squires, Larry Bennett, Kathleen McCourt, and Philip Nyden. 1987. Chicago: Race, Class, and the Response to Urban Decline. Philadelphia: Temple University Press

Dempsey Travis. Autobiography of Black Politics. Chicago: Urban Research Press, Inc., 1987

Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh. 2000. American Project: The Rise and Fall of A Modern Ghetto. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

Supplementary Print Sources: A collection of newspaper, magazine, and journal articles exploring a variety of social, cultural, political, and economic issues facing the residents of the Bronzeville community during the last twenty-five years of the 20th century.

Web page and linkage resources: (http://condor.depaul.edu/~blackmet) Classroom instruction; Bibliographic instruction; The Carter G. Woodson Library (archives of the Chicago Defender; The Whip: The Bee; Chicago Digital City; Chicago Area Demographic Profile; Bronzeville Historical Society; Demographic Profile of Bronzeville 1950-2000; Photo Workshop; Mapping System; Chicago Public Schools; Chicago Public Library; Richardson Library.

I. Introduction

This course is part of a three-year longitudinal research effort to examine changes in the original "Black Belt" of Chicago, over the last-half century. Through historical and contemporary readings, lectures, class discussions, videos, student exercises, training, field experiences, internships, project-based, and cooperative learning activities the course will examine key events, circumstances, and situations that changed the area since 1950. During this quarter, the period from 1975 to the present will be the specific time frame in which we will analyze and measure the indicators associated with change - health, housing, education, economy, environment, and safety - in the Black Metropolis. Additionally, we will explore the political factors that had such a dynamic influence on the residents of the Douglas and Grand Boulevard communities during this period. Demographic, survey, and qualitative variables will be utilized to measure the quality of life in Bronzeville over the last twenty-five years. These data will provide the project team and students with the means to understand, interpret, and explain the type and kind of changes that have occurred in the Black Metropolis during the period in questions.

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 learning through team focused, project-based assignments.

3. To teach the application of social science theories and research inservice based and internship training programs relevant to examining and explaining changes in the Black Metropolis over the past fifty years.

III. The Purpose of the Seminar

Our task is to go beyond simply sharing information that might be assembled and comprehended through individual reading. It is essential that we have active team engagement in the pursuit of knowledge about the past to understand the present, and to predict the future. We will do everything within our power to facilitate our students' ability to render specific hypotheses, propositions, functions, co-relations, explanations, and causes out of the variety of materials and resources required for this course.

Student participation is one of the most important activities we will engage in to collect data, facts, and information so we can flesh out particular variables, relationships among variables, and sets of variables in order to understand and interpret changes in the Black Metropolis over the last-half century. During this quarter, students will be provided with the social science tools they need to evaluate the large amounts of data that will be critical to gaining an in depth understanding of the Black Metropolis.

To benefit from this process, each student must take an intellectual risk in the midst of the supportive environment that we expect all team members to provide. We are depending on your practical and theoretical skills, your energy, and your willingness to assist in the difficult task of understanding changes in the Black Metropolis since 1950. To advance this effort, we have created a series of project-based assignments that we feel are critical to both the student's individual educational development and the needs of the Black Metropolis Project.

An important component of this quarter's course will be internships. Each student will be assigned to work with a community organization, business, or social service agency. The purpose of the hands on experience is twofold. On the one hand, it will provide our students with an opportunity to learn about the day to day operation of an institution in the heart of the Black Metropolis. On the other hand, hopefully, our students will bring to these local institutions certain knowledge, expertise, and skills that will benefit the organizations by assisting them in their efforts better serve the community.

IV. Course Requirements

Course information is found on Blackboard. All students are required to enroll in Blackboard. Using any Internet server, type in http://blackboard.depaul.edu and follow the instructions provided to login.

1. Required attendance and active participation. More than four absences, the equivalent of two weeks of the seminar, without a legitimate excuse will result in an automatic FX for undergraduate students and possible dismissal for high school students. (10%)

2. Each student in the class is require to keep a journal. The journal must include the following:

• Your reflections and assessment of classroom discussions, reading and training assignments, lectures, videos, and field work assignments. Observations should include a discussion of what you like, don't like, don't understand, and your need for help.
• Your reflections of required fieldwork experiences, and assignments.
• Your assessment of what you know well and how well you are learning.
• Your reaction to and interpretation of the changes that are taking place in the Black Metropolis.
• Your summation of your internship experiences.

The journal is due every Wednesday. All journals will be read and graded by the team of course instructors. (20%)

3. Field note training/exercises and assignments, photographic training/exercises and assignments, GIS laboratory training/exercises and assignments, bibliographic instruction/exercises and assignments, technology training/exercises and assignments. (10%)

4. Mid-term essay exam focusing on readings, lectures/discussion, and educational videos that were explored during the first half of the course. Participants will be given the opportunity to respond to one of several questions. (30%)

5. A project-based field study portfolio to be submitted during the final week of the course. The field study, which begins on the first day, is an individual project that is faculty guided and supervised with the assistance of a graduate research assistant, community coordinator, and undergraduate research assistants. This project will be a by-product of each student's work during the course of the quarter. As a part of this, there will be periodic faculty visits to the field site to monitor our students activities. Time will be allotted during each Wednesday's class session for discussions of our students experiences working in one of the Black Metropolis' community organizations, businesses, or social agencies. Students are required to be at these cites for a minimum of three hours per week. (40%)

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

Week One: April 2nd and 4th

Lecture and discussion topic: The Black Metropolis Project, Black Chicago in the Post-War Era, and the plight of African Americans.

Reading Assignments: The Promised Land, Chapter 1

Classroom Discussion: Students will meet the research team, review the syllabus, and all course requirements.

Homework Assignment: Supervised field-visit to the Black Metropolis/Bronzeville.

Reminder: Students should begin recording their thoughts in their journals about the course, the project, and your role.

Week Two: April 9th and 11th (Qualitative Training on April 9th)

Lecture and discussion topic: The 20^th Century South and the Second Great Migration

Reading Assignments: The Promised Land, Chapter 2; A Raisin in the Sun (Act I)

Classroom Instruction: This session will focus on the experiences of African Americans as they made the transition from the rural south to the urban north.

Homework assignment: Students are encouraged to keep up with the readings. On Monday, we will begin qualitative training on how to observe and take notes on your observations in the field.

Reminder: Internships will begin on Thursday, April 12th. Journals should be submitted during the class session on Wednesday, April 11th. They will be returned during class on Monday, April 16.

Week Three: April 16th and 18th (Bibliographic Instruction on April 16th)

Lecture and discussion topic: The Making of the Second Ghetto and the Struggle for Housing

Reading Assignments: The Promised Land, Chapter 3; A Raisin in the Sun (Act II)

Classroom Instruction: Students will discuss Lorraine Hansberry's, A Raisin in the Sun, in the context of exploring the barriers that were erected to limit African American access to decent and affordable housing.

Homework assignment: In addition to completing the weekly readings, students should be aware that bibliographic instruction will begin. Thought should be given to the research they will need to do on a number of key issues, including housing, education, economy, and political life.

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday, April 25th. They will be returned to you on Monday, April 30th.

Week Four: April 23rd and April 25th (Photography Training on April 23rd)

Lecture and discussion topic: The Black Metropolis and Chicago Politics

Reading Assignments: The Promised Land, Chapter 4; Chicago Divided, Chapter 1

Classroom instruction: We will examine the role of black people in the rough and tumble world of Chicago politics.

Homework assignments: Please keep up with the readings. Students will participate in photography training, an integral part of this project, on Monday.

Reminder: Journals will be returned on Monday, April 30th.

Week Five: April 30th and May 2nd (Quantitative Training on April 30th)

Lecture and discussion topic: One Hundred Years of Population Diversity and Political Change

Reading Assignments: Chicago Divided, Chapters 2 and 3

Classroom Instruction: Students will explore the demographic and political changes that occurred in Chicago from 1870 to 1970.

Homework assignments: All students will be trained on how to collect quantitative data for the project.

Reminder: Journals will be collected on Wednesday, May 9th. They will be returned on Monday, May 14th.

Week Six: May 7th and May 9th (ArchView Training on May 7th)

Lecture and discussion topic: The Impact of Race and Ethnicity on Chicago's Social, Political, and Economic Life: The Reign of Richard J. Daley

Reading Assignments: Chicago Divided, Chapters 4 and 5

Classroom Instruction: We will discuss how the dominance of the Cook County Democratic Party under the leadership of Mayor Richard J. Daley retarded the growth and development of the Black Metropolis.

Homework assignments: Please keep up with readings. Students will be trained on ArchView on Monday.

Reminder: Journals will returned on Monday, May 14th. Mid-terms will be due on May 16th.

Week Seven: May 14th and May 16th (Power Point, MS Word Training on May 14)

Lecture topic and discussion: Fire on the Prairie: The Split in the Party and the Challenge to White Democratic Hegemony

Reading Assignments: Chicago Divided, Chapter 6 and 7

Classroom Instruction: Students will explore the divisions Chicago's ruling party and discover how black politicians and businessmen were finally able to leverage their resources to elect a son of Bronzeville as the city's first black mayor.

Homework assignments. Please continue to keep up with the readings. All students will receive technology training in power point, etc. on Monday.

Reminder: Journals will be due on Wednesday, May 23rd.

Week Eight: May 21st and May 23rd

Lecture and discussion topic: Black Chicago in the Post-Washington Era

Reading Assignments: Chicago Divided, Chapter 8

Classroom Instruction: We will examine Harold Washington's brief reign as mayor and life in the Black Metropolis following his untimely death.

Homework assignments: Please keep up with the readings. All students will provide written progress reports on their assigned projects

Reminder: Journals will be returned on Monday, May 28th.

Week Nine: May 28th and May 30th

Lecture and discussion topics: A Tale of Two Cities: The Downtown and the Neighborhoods

Reading Assignments: Black Metropolis Revisited

Classroom Instruction: We will examine the most recent efforts towards revitilalizing and renovating sections of the city like parts of the Loop, Near North, and the South Loop and compare it with the current renaissance that is taking place in Bronzeville.

Homework assignments: Students should complete any individual and group projects in preparation for class presentations during finals week. All internships and community service assignments should be completed, students should be making their final journal entries, and they should be finalizing research projects chronicling the history of their respective community organizations, businesses, and social service agencies.

Reminder: All Internships will end on Friday, June 1st. Journals should be submitted on Monday, June 4th. A concerted effort will be made to return them on Wednesday, June 6th.

Week Ten: June 4th and June 6th

Lecture and discussion topics: The Black Metropolis at the End of the 20th Century

Reading Assignments: Selected Readings on the Bronzeville Community

Classroom Instruction: Students will discuss articles on Bronzeville and sum up the experiences they have had during the ten weeks of the course.

Course Synthesis and Evaluation