SYLLABUS
THE BLACK METROPOLIS II: 1950-1975

Instructor: Michael Bennett
Department of Sociology and
Egan Urban Center
243 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 9100
Ext. 6518
Email: mbennett@wppost.depaul.edu

Black Metropolis classroom and office: The classroom and office for the Black Metropolis project is located within the Office of Community-based Service Learning CbSL). CbSL is located in the basement of the Vincentian Residence at 2233 North Kenmore Avenue. The Black Metropolis office number is Lower Lever #104 (LL104). The phone number is (773) 325-2489.

Project team members:
Ted Manley, Jr. (773) 325-4718 tmanley@wppost.depaul.edu
Adrian Capehart (773) 325-2489 ascapehart@mymail.net
Lazarus Rice (773) 325-7842 lrice@wppost.depaul.edu
Donald Matthews (314) 977-3691 matthews@slu.edu

Support Staff:
Lori Murphy (Project librarian) (773) 325-2472 lmurphy@wppost.depaul.edu
Helen Chang (High school student coach) (708) 445-9514 hoop institute@aol.com
David Jabon (Quantitative Instructor) (773) 325-7286 djabon@wppost.depaul.edu
Patrick McHaffie (ArcView Instructor) (773) 325-7456 pmchaffi@wppost.depaul.edu

I. Introduction

This course is part of a three-year longitudinal research effort, entitled, The Black Metropolis Revisited. Throughout the three years, we will 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 project will examine key events, circumstances, and situations that changed the area since 1950.

II. Project Objectives

The courses offered in The Black Metropolis Project share three common objectives:

  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 in service-based and Internship training programs relevant to examining and explaining changes in the Black Metropolis over the past fifty years.

BLACK METROPOLIS II: COURSE DESCRIPTION

In Black Metropolis II, students will be introduced to the rich array of people, organizations, institutions, businesses and industries that have worked together over the past 25 years to influence and direct the social and economic development activities in Bronzeville. While the popular press and much of the scholarly literature emphasize the "social disorganization" and other negative features of this community, students will discover the assets that have existed there and the ways these assets have been employed to design and implement neighborhood development strategies.

Students will develop a profile of the assets and issues in the Bronzeville neighborhood, conduct group interviews of key informants who can reflect on the community-building process, and analyze data from agencies and organizations’ archives.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS (Course Information is located on BlackBoard. All students are required to enroll in . To enroll in blackboard ue any internet server and type in http://blackboard.depaul.edu follow the instructions provided to enroll).

1. Attendance: The primary requirement is your presence: Attendance counts. More that four absences for junior and senior students will result in an automatice FX. More than three absences for junior and senior high school students will result in detention and possible dismissal.

2. Journals: Each student is required to keep a journal. First, the journal is both a vehicle for you to record your reactions to and impressions of all of the activities that are taking place in conjunction with this class. In that regard, the journal must include your reflections and assessment of classroom discussions, reading and training assignments, lecturers and field work assignments. A major set of observations must focus on the apparent assets and the critical challenges that you see in the Bronzeville community.

Also, the journal is a vehicle to communicate with the instructional team about what you are learning or not learning. There will be a total of ten journals. Journals are worth 10% of your grade. Journals are due every Monday. The first Journal is due January 15th.

3. Field work experience and notebook: The objective is for the student to learn through serving the community in a variety of field placements. Students will be placed with social service agencies, community organizations and institutions. Depending on placement students are required to keep a field notebook to record observations, meetings, events, and situations while in the placement. Field notes will be collected each week during placement and are worth a 10% of your grade.

4. Training : Students will participate in Qualitative training, Bibliographic instruction, photographic training, quantitative training, ArcView training and Power point, MS word training according to a schedule provided in this syllabus.

5. Mid-term: The mid-term exam will cover training and all reading mid-way through the course. It will be a take-home midterm consisting of all training and classroom reading and instruction.

6. Book Reviewof Crusade for Justice due Wednesday March 14, 2001.

7. Group project: The class will be divided into teams with each team being responsible or documenting, analyzing and reporting on the impact that various components of the community have had on its development initiatives.

COURSE GRADE

The course grade will be determined as follows:

Attendance 10%
Journals 10%
Field notes 10%
Book Review 10%
Mid-term exam 20%
Group project and presentation 40%

REQUIRED READINGS

Boyd, Michelle, "Reconstructing Bronzeville: Racial Nostalgia and Neighborhood Redevelopment," in Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2000, pp. 107-122 (Class Handout)

Drake, St. Clair, and Horace A. Cayton, Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City, Vol. 1, New York, Harcourt Brace, 1993

Duster, Alfreda M. (ed.) Crusade For Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells. Chicago, IL, The University of Chicago Press, 1970.

Greenstone, J. David and Peterson, Paul E., Race and Authority in Urban Politics: Community Participation and the War on Poverty, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1973.

Kretzmann, John P., and John L. McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets, Evanston, Ill., Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Neighborhood Innovations Network, Northwestern University, 1993

Putney, Deborah L., "The Impact of Gang Violence on the Decisions of Everyday Life: Disjunctions Between Policy Assumptions and Community Conditions," inJournal of Urban Affairs, Vol. 19, No. 2, 1997, pp. 143-161 (Class Handout)

Travis, Dempsey J., An Autobiography of Black Chicago, Chicago, Urban Research Press, 1997

Turner, Nicol, John L. McKnight, and John P. Kretzmann, A Guide to Mapping and Mobilizing the Associations in Local Neighborhoods, Evanston, Ill., The Asset-Based Community Development Institute, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, 1999

RECOMMENDED READINGS

Banks, Brian and MacLaren, David, "Mobilizing Citizen Participation in Bronzeville", in PRAGmatics, Vol. 2, No. 2, Spring 1999, pp. 3-5

MacLaren, David, If We Work on Problems in Our Neighborhoods: Bronzeville Organizing Strategy Session, Chicago: Policy Research Action Group, March 1999

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: 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.

The Carter G. Woodson 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 contact person for the project at the library is Ms. Mary Williams. Ms. Williams can be reached by phone at (312) 747-6900. The Harsh collection also contains archives of the Chicago Defender; the Chicago Whip; the Chicago Bee; and the Pittsburgh Courier.

CLASS SCHEDULE

WEEK 1: January 8th and 10th.

Topics: Student/Faculty Introductions, Class Requirements/Expectations

Terms and Concepts

Introduction to Communities, Community Components and Community Dynamics: Elements Contributing to Neighborhood Decline and Historical Attempts at Revitalization

Readings: Building Communities from the Inside Out, Chapter One, "Releasing Individual Capacities," pp. 13-81.

Video: TBA.

WEEK 2: January 15th and 17th

Topic: Introduction to Bronzeville: An Historical Overview of the Douglas/Grand Boulevard Community

Readings: Community Area Profiles of Douglas and Grand Boulevard in the Chicago Community Fact Book, 1980 &1990.

Autobiography of Black Chicago, Chapters 1-6, pp. 1-46.

Crusade For Justice; Introduction, pp. Xiii-xxxii, : Chapters 1-7, pp. 7-59.

Guest Lecturer: Dempsey Travis, author and real estate developer

WEEK 3: January 22nd and 24th

Topic: Qualitative Training (Jan. 22);

Community Components: Community-Based Organizations, Neighborhood Associations and Institutions

Readings: Building Communities from the Inside Out, Chapter 2, "Releasing the Power of Local Associations and Organizations", pp. 109-163.

A Guide to Mapping and Mobilizing the Associations in Local Neighborhoods, Introduction, pp. 1-5.

Autobiography of Black Chicago, Chapters 7-9, pp. 47-81.

(Recommended) Banks, Brian and David MacLaren, "Mobilizing Citizen Participation in Bronzeville," in PRAGmatics, Spring 1999, Vol. 2, No. 2., pp. 3-5.

Crusade for Justice: Chapters 8-14, pp. 61-105.

Guest Lecturer: Timuel Black, Chicago historian/political activist

WEEK 4: January 29th and 31st

Topic: Bibliographic Instruction (Jan. 29th);

Capturing Local Institutions for Community Building

Readings: Building Communities from the Inside Out, Chapter 3, "Capturing Local Institutions for Community Building," pp. 171-274 .

Autobiography of Black Chicago, Chapters 8-13, pp. 83-125.

Crusade For Justice: Chapters 15-19, pp. 107-152.

Guest Lecturer: Nicol Turner, co-author, A Guide to Mapping and Mobilizing the Associations in Local Neighborhoods

WEEK 5: February 5th and 7th

Topic: Photographic training (Feb. 5th);

The Community Development Process: Putting it All Together

Readings: Building Communities from the Inside Out, Chapter 4, "Rebuilding the Community Economy," pp. 275-344; Chapter 5, "Asset-Based Community Development: Mobilizing an Entire Community," pp. 345-354.

Autobiography of Black Chicago, Chapters 15-18, pp.135-172.

Black Metropolis, Chapter 11, "Democracy and Economic Necessity: Breaking the Job Ceiling,", pp. 287-311; Chapter 12, "Democracy and Economic Necessity: Black Workers and the New Unions, pp. 312-341.

Crusade For Justice: Chapters 20-29, pp. 153-245.

Guest Panel: Community leaders from Grand Boulevard/Douglas

WEEK 6: February 12th and 14th

Topics: Quantitative training (Feb. 12th);

Community Economic Development: Public Programs and Private Enterprise

Introduction to national policies with local implementation: Urban Renewal, Community Action Programs & Model Cities.

Readings

Black Metropolis, Chapter 16, "Negro Business: Myth and Fact," pp. 430-469; Chapter 17, "Business Under a Cloud," pp. 470-494.

Crusade For Justice: Chapters 30-35, pp. 247-307.

WEEK 7: February 19th and 21st

Topic: ArcView training (Feb. 19);

The Politics of Community Renewal

Readings: Race and Authority in Urban Politics: Community Participation and the War on Poverty,. Selected Chapters (Class Handout)

Crusade For Justice: Chapters 36-40, pp.309-365.

WEEK 8: February 26th and 28th

Topic: Power point, MS word training (Feb. 26th).

Evaluating the Outcomes: Qualitative and Quantitative Measures

Readings: A Twenty-First Century Map for Healthy Communities and Families, pp. 1-27.

Crusade For Justice: Chapters 41-43 pp. 367-395.

WEEK 9: March 5th and 7th

Topic: Group Project Presentations

Readings: Crusade For Justice: Chapters 44-46, pp.397-419.

WEEK 10: March 12th and 14th

Topic: Assist Groups in Preparing and Completing Project Presentations

Book review of Crusade For Justice is due Thursday March 14th.

FINALS WEEK: March 19th and 21st

Students will present final group projects at the Hall Library. Date to be determined.