SYLLABUS

The Black Metropolis II: 1950-1975

Winter, 2005

 

SOC 394 Section 201                                                            Instructors: Ted Manley, Jr., Caleb Dube

SOC 290 Section 202                                                            Office Hours: Tuesday 4:00-5:30pm

Faculty Hall LL107                                                               Office: # 1113 1st Floor Dietzgen Building

MW  4:00-5:30 pm                                                                990 Fullerton SE corner of Sheffield 

Tele: (773) 325-4718

E-mails: tmanley@depaul.edu

                cdube@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 #101 (LL101). 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:

 

Theodoric (Ted) Manley, Jr. (Co-Instructor and principal investigator) (773) 325-4718 tmanley@depaul.edu

Caleb Dube (Co-Instructor and Co-principal investigator) (773) 325-4672 cdube@depaul.edu

Molly Szymanski (Teaching/Research Assistant/Community Coordinator)

(773) 325-2489 mszyman2@depaul.edu

 

Support staff:

 

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

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

 

Required Books:

 

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

 

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

University of Chicago Press.

 

Bebe Moore Campbell (1992) Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine: A Novel. New York: Ballantine Books.

 

Mark Anthony Neal (1999) What The Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture. New York: Routledge.

 

Hand-outs: 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. Required reading: Introduction and Part I (see handout).

 

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; Physical quality of life maps; Map files; Bronzeville on-line survey and; previous Town Hall meeting power point presentations. 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. 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 Caytons’ 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 II

 

The second course in the three-course sequence on the Black Metropolis introduces students to the ways in which the first Black ghetto can be distinguished from the second Black ghetto. Institutionalized racism from federal to state and local levels shaped the social forces tied to a policy of confinement and hyper-segregation in the Black Metropolis. The politics of exclusion, housing segregation, and the manipulation of federal, state and local laws to meet the vested interest of federal, state and local private and public white interest shaped the making of the second Black ghetto. This course will challenge students to think critically about the chances of creating a just and open society for Americans of African descent.

 

The course builds on the first course 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.  At this critical period in the history of the Black Metropolis Blacks became a strong voting force as they switched their allegiance to the Democratic Party after being loyal, since the abolition of slavery, to the party of Lincoln.  In the making of the “second” Black Metropolis the myth of the Black sub-machine arose to explain increased black political interest and civil rights. The rise of the civil rights movement and the challenges it presented to then mayor Richard J. Daley (e.g., the Ralph Metcalf challenge, the killing of Fred Hampton, the Marquette Park riot, King’s visit and assassination, the 68 Riots, etc.) concluded the course.

 

At the close of the course students will reflect on the different set of circumstances affecting the Black poor, middle, working and upper class, from their identity as Negro, to Black, to African American and their economic, political and social position inside a city within a city.

 

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. John Leahy, SAC 434, 773-325-7209, e-mail jleahy@depaul.edu

 

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 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 century.

 

 III.          Point of view towards the course.

 

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.        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 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 January 5th, 2005. All

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

 

3.        Mid-term exam: fieldwork, service learning, and research training short essay/multiple choice take-home exam. Handed-out on Wednesday February 3rd, 2005 and is due Monday February 7th, 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 (due every Monday), photographic training/exercises and assignments, bibliographic instruction/exercises and assignments, technology training/exercises and assignments (100 points).

 

·         Field notes this quarter consist of collecting books, articles, films, and music related to the the history and 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.

 

5.        Reflective book review on Your Blues ain’t like Mine due Wednesday March 9th, 2005 (100 points). The book reflective book review must focus on the historical and contemporary impact of racism on the African American community in Bronzeville, the relationship between the rules of  south and the north, and how the subtle forms of racism today testified 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.

 

6.        The multi-cultural project based service learning field study portfolio due Wednesday March 16th, 2005. 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 (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.

 

Teams: There will be three Black Metropolis teams. The first team is called the Oral History Team. This project will consist of conducting oral interviews, and completing the oral history videotape documentary project designed to provide an historical record for the community on the changing structure and management of public housing in the community since the last half of the twentieth century.

 

The second and third team is called the Physical Quality of Life and Town Hall Meeting Team (incorporating 47th Street). This team will meet every week to put together a presentation for three town hall meetings. The town hall meeting dates are:

 

1.        George Cleveland Hall Branch Library—February 14, 2005, 5:30-7:00pm

2.        Chicago Bee Branch Library—February 28, 2005, 5:30-7:00pm

3.        Martin Luther King Branch Chicago Public Library –March 10, 2005, 5:30-7:00pm

 

We will begin preparation for the three town hall meetings in early January. Please review the previous power point town hall presentations on the Black Metropolis website at http://www.depaul.edu/~blackmet

 

All students will participate in building a Bronzeville Bibliography of Books, Articles, Films, and Music for each of the branch libraries in Bronzeville (i.e., The Chicago Bee; George Cleveland Hall and; Dr. Martin Luther King). In addition, all students will participate bi-weekly (beginning in Week Three) in updating of the physical quality of life database that was developed autumn 2000, updated autumn 2002, 2003, and 2004.

 

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

 

Week One:  January 3rd and 5h.  Lecture and discussion topic: The Black Metropolis, the Great Migration and slavery unwilling to die.

 

Reading assignments: In Black Metropolis Introduction: Midwest Metropolis and Part I Pp 3-97 and Chapter 23 Advancing the Race Pp. 716-745 (Handout). In What the Music Said, “Introduction”: Pp. 1-23.

 

Film:  Goin’ To Chicago (Monday and Wednesday)

 

Music: Eomot RaSun--“Goin’ to Chicago”; “Strange Fruit” Billie Holiday

 

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 field-visit to the project site. Students will receive field notebooks, and journal notebooks in preparation for field note recording and journal writing.

 

Homework assignment: Supervised field-visit to the Black Metropolis/Bronzeville. All student teams will meet at DePaul on Saturday January 8th, 2005 at 12:00 noon in the project classroom. We will take a bus to the project site and, depending on the weather, be led 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 in your journal about the course, the project and your role (how do you feel). Journals are due Wednesday January 5th 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. We will collect field notes describing your observations on Monday January 10th.  In class reflection is every Wednesday.

 


 

Week Two: January 10th and 12h. Lecture and discussion topic: The Making of the Second Ghetto: institutional racism and the policy of confinement.

 

Reading assignments: In The Making of the Second Ghetto Foreword, Preface and Chapter 1 and 2: Pp. vii-67.  

 

Music: “Change is Gonna Come,” Sam Cooke; “We Shall Overcome,” Traditional song

 

Classroom instruction: This week we will discuss the reason (s) 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, we will begin to discuss the violence associated with the making of the second black metropolis: the distinction between communal riots and commodity riots. Finally, we will discuss the origins of the Civil Rights Movement.

 

Homework assignment: Please keep-up with the readings. It helps for understanding the lecture and class discussion. Please begin collecting local newspaper, magazine, and print media articles on redevelopment in Bronzeville since 1990. Please look at the political maps on the wall in the classroom. You will be given instructions this week on making physical, social, economic, and political maps of the neighborhood.

 

Qualitative and Photography Training: On Wednesday January 12th, we will begin qualitative training on how to observe and take notes on your bi-weekly 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.

 

Reminder: Journals are due Wednesday January 12th in class. Journals will be returned to you on Monday. Field notes/library research books, articles, films and music are due Monday January 19th in class. In class reflection is every Wednesday.

          

Week Three: January 17th and 19th. Lecture and discussion topic: Defending white neighborhoods: The role of federal, state and local agencies and their protection of white interest.

Film:  Eyes on the Prize: America at the Racial Crossroads: “Two Societies 1965-68” (Wednesday).

 

Music: “Keep On Pushin’,” The Impressions; “Fight the Power,” Public Enemy; “Fight the Power,” Isley Brothers; “Move on Up,” Curtis Mayfield

 

Reading assignments: In The Making of the Second Ghetto Chapters 3-4: Pp. 68-134. In What the Music Said, Chapters 1 & 2: “Legislating Freedom, Commodifying Struggle: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Struggle for Black Musical Hegemony/From Protest to Climax, Black Power, State Repression & Black Communities of Resistance,” Pp. 25-84.

 

Classroom instruction: This week we will discuss the ideological differences in the black and white experience and the conditions under which these differences took shape and matured into a policy of confinement and the collusion between downtown, the Chicago Machine and state and federal agencies. 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. A landmark decision in the desegregation of schools will complete discussion on the context of housing in the emergence of the Black protest for full citizenship. 

 

Homework assignments: The readings for this week are more complex and descriptively thick. In your field notes discuss how the readings are related to some of the articles you are collecting from local print media in Chicago. We begin bi-weekly visits to the project site to update the physical quality of life database. Begin preparations for Town Hall meetings.

 

Bibliographic Training: On Wednesday January 19th, 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 completing the Bronzeville Bibliography of Books, Articles, Films, and Music for each branch library.

 

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday January 19th. Field notes/library research for books, articles, films and music are due on Monday January 24th. In class reflection is every Wednesday.

 

Week Four: January 24th and 26th. Lecture and discussion topic: The contradictions of White liberalism and becoming white: White immigrants in the 20th century.

 

Reading assignments: In The Making of the Second Ghetto Chapters 5-6: Pp. 135-212. What the Music Said, Chapter 3: “Soul For Sale: The Marketing of Black Musical Expression,” Pp. 85-99.

Music: “Cash in Your Face,” Stevie Wonder; “Smiling Faces,” The Undisputed Truth

 

Classroom instruction: We will discuss how the role of community institutional power/racism and community conservation coupled together to protect and defend the boundaries of a white liberal neighborhood from Black in-migration. In addition, we will discuss the social construction of whiteness and how European immigrants became white in order to unite against Black in-migration. Also, we will discuss the diversity of leadership in the second Black Metropolis and 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?

 

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the reading. Continue collecting local newspaper, magazine, and print media articles on redevelopment in Bronzeville since 1990. Continue preparing for Town Hall meetings.

 

Quantitative Training: On Wednesday January 26th, all teams will be introduced to the BMP data base located on-line at the Quantitative Reasoning Centers web site at http://qrc.depaul.edu.  Students will be trained to use the social science statistical method of correlation to analyze the relationship between a series of variables in the BMP database. In addition hardship indices from last quarter will be correlated with each other to determine “best-fit” correlations. Finally, all students will analyze correlation outcomes by using spatial analysis to map and draw inferences for social science interpretations and explanations of the rapid changes taking place geographically in Bronzeville.

 

Quantitative training will be held in either the Computer lab located on the second floor of the Schmitt Academic (SAC) in room 232 or in the Quantitative Reasoning Skills Center located on the second floor of SAC in room 268.

 

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday January 26th. Field notes/library research for books, articles, films, and music are due on Monday January 31st.  In class reflection is every Wednesday.

 

Week Five (Mid-term): January 31st and February 3rd. Lecture and discussion: High-rise public housing comes to Chicago: The formalization of a policy of confinement.

 

Reading assignments: In The Making of the Second Ghetto Chapters 7 and Epilogue: Pp. 212-275. In Bitter Fruit Chapter Preface and Part I Pp. ix-44

 

Music: “Mississippi Goddamn,” Nina Simone; “Cloud Nine,” The Temptations

 

Classroom instruction: We will discuss the consequences of the social construction of whiteness in America within the context of the color line and its derivative—a policy of confinement. 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 interpret, define and analyze in more detail the role of Black Politics and the Chicago Machine.

 

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the readings. The second bi-weekly update of the physical quality of life database is schedule for this week. Continue preparing for Town Hall meetings.

 

Quantitative Training: On Wednesday February 3rd, we will continue to analyze the BMP database using correlation analysis. Correlations that are significant (i.e., over .30 and significant at the .05 level) will be included in the power point presentations being prepared for the three town hall meetings at each branch library in Bronzeville (Hall, King and Bee). Our second quantitative training session will be held in either the Computer lab located on the second floor of the Schmitt Academic (SAC) in room 232 or in the Quantitative Reasoning Skills Center located on the second floor of SAC in room 268.

Mid-term Exam: The mid-term will be handed out on Wednesday February 3rd with instructions at the end of our quantitative training session. The mid-term will be take home and due on the following Monday February 7th (typed and doubled space) before class begins.

 

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday February 3rd. Field notes/library research books, articles, films, and music are due on Monday, February 7th. In class reflection is every Wednesday.

 

Week Six: February 7th and 9th. Lecture and discussion: Black Politics: The Chicago Machine.

 

Reading assignments: In Bitter Fruit Part 2 Pp. 47-87.What the Music Said, Chapter 4: “Soul for real: Authentic Black Voices in an Age of Deterioration,” Pp. 101-124.

 

Music: “Wake Up Everybody,” Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes; “Give the People What They Want,” The O’Jays

 

Classroom instruction: What factors shaped the growth of Black politics in Chicago? Why did Blacks switch from the party of Lincoln to the party of Roosevelt? Did Blacks become a political force of power and consolidate into the Boss” Dawson submachine? Whose interest did Dawson represent?

 

Homework assignments: We will rehearse this week for the first Town Hall meeting at the George Cleveland Hall branch Chicago Public Library on Monday, February 14th from 5:30 and 7:30pm. Regular class time is devoted to the Town Hall meeting. Service learning hours are part of the town hall meeting. Prior to the Town Hall meeting, we will tour the project sight to update the physical quality of life database. Transportation is provided. We will meet at the regular scheduled class time, 4:00pm, to tour and have a light diner in the project sight before the Town Hall meeting.

Please keep-up with the readings. Continue collecting local newspaper, magazine, and print media articles on redevelopment in Bronzeville since 1990. Begin rehearsal for the first Town Hall meeting on Monday February 14th (library to be determined).

 

Reminder: Midterms are due on Monday February 7th at the beginning of class. Field notes/library research books, articles, films, and music are due on Monday, February 7th. Journals are due on Wednesday February 9th. In class reflection is every Wednesday.

 

Week Seven: February 14th and 16th. Lecture and discussion: Revisiting the impact of the Great Migration: The Black middle and lower class differential support for the Daley Machine. 

 

Music: “Ball of Confusion” (Temptations) (Wednesday)

 

Film: “Life and Death of Malcolm X” (Wednesday)

 

Required readings: In Bitter Fruit Part 3 Pp. 91-140.

 

Classroom instruction: How did the middle and lower class challenge and support the Daley machine? What social forces restricted Black economic and political life chances?

 

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the readings. The first Town Hall meeting at the George Cleveland Hall branch Chicago Public Library is on Monday, February 14th from 5:30-7:30pm. Regular class time is devoted to the Town Hall meeting. Service learning hours are part of the town hall meeting. Prior to the Town Hall meeting, we will tour the project sight to update the physical quality of life database. Transportation is provided. We will meet at the regular scheduled class time, 4:00pm, to tour and have a light diner in the project sight before the Town Hall meeting.

 

Reminder: Journals are due on Wednesday February 16th.  Field notes are due on Monday, February 14th. Begin reading and attempt to finish this weekend the novel, Your Blues ain’t like Mine for discussion during class next week. Prepare for second Town hall meeting (library to be determined) on Monday February 21st.

 

Week Eight: February 21st and 23rd. Lecture and discussion: A critical and conscious literary discussion of Your Blues ain’t like Mine.

 

Film: “Eyes on the Prize America at the Crossroads: The Emit Till case”

 

Music: “B.B. King “Why I Sing the Blues.” “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize/Plow” (Traditional song)

 

Reading assignment: Your Blues ain’t like mine. (Entire)

 

Classroom instruction: The central focus of classroom discussion is on Your Blues ain’t like Mine the murder, racism and the segregated South. Armstrong Todd is fifteen, black and unused to the ways of the Deep South when his mother sends him to spend the summer with relatives in her native rural Mississippi. When Armstrong speaks to white women he pays an ultimate price. The horror of poverty, the legacy of injustice and the murder transforms the Civil Rights Movement and black life in Chicago and Mississippi.

 

Homework assignments: Please keep-up with the readings. On Wednesday we will have rehearsal for the second town Hall meeting at the Chicago Bee Branch Chicago Public Library on Monday, February 28th   The Town Hall meeting is from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Regular class time is devoted to the Town Hall meeting. Service learning hours are part of the town hall meeting. Prior to the Town Hall meeting, we will tour the project sight to update the physical quality of life database. Transportation is provided. We will meet at the regular scheduled class time, 4:00pm, to tour and have a light diner in the project sight before the Town Hall meeting.

 

Reminder: Field notes/library research on books, articles, films, and music are due on Monday, February 21st. Journals are due on Wednesday February 23rd

 

Week Nine: February 28th and March 2nd. Lecture and discussion: The Civil Rights and Black Power Movement, the murder of Fred Hampton and the trail of the Chicago six—the cultural limits of political power. The legacy of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement: From Machine Politics to Racial Politics and the rise of a Black Messiah.

 

Music: “What’s Goin’ On?” (Marvin Gaye, 1970) (Wednesday) “The Revolution will not be televised” (Last Poets, 1968) (Wednesday)

 

Films: “Black Power and White Backlash: 1966 (CBS)”.  “Fred Hampton and Daley” (Wednesday)

 

Reading assignments In Bitter Fruit Part 4 Pp. 143-196 What the Music Said, Chapter 5: “Postindustrial Soul: Black Popular Music at the Crossroads,” Pp.125-157.

 

Classroom instruction: Today in class lecture and discussion is the rise of racial politics and a Black Messiah. Why did race become an issue? Why couldn’t race be mobilized off of the agenda in the 1970s? 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? What impact did the Black Power Movement and the murder of Fred Hampton have on the Daley machine?

 

Homework assignment: Please keep-up with the readings. The second Town Hall meeting at the Chicago Bee branch Chicago Public Library is on Monday February 28th. The Town Hall meeting will begin at 5:30pm and end at 7:30pm. Regular class time is devoted to the Town Hall meeting. Service learning hours are part of the town hall meeting. Prior to the Town Hall meeting, we will tour the project sight to update the physical quality of life database. Transportation is provided. We will meet at the regular scheduled class time, 4:00pm, to tour and have a light diner in the project sight before the Town Hall meeting.

 

On Wednesday March 2nd we will have a rehearsal for the third and final town hall meeting at the Martin Luther King Branch Chicago Public Library on Thursday March 10th from 5:30 to 7:30pm. We are aware that some students may not be able to attend this town hall meeting because of class conflicts on Thursday March 10th.

 

We will discuss on Wednesday the outline for multicultural service learning assignment and prepare all students for completing this assignment on March 16th (see attachment).

 

Reminder: Field notes/library research on books, articles, films, and music are due on Monday, February 28th. Please include in your field notes an outline of the audience that participated in the first Town hall meeting at the Hall branch library. Journals are due on Wednesday March 2nd.

 

Week Ten: March 7th and 9th. Lecture and discussion: Black political conflict and contradictions of Black political leadership.

 

Music: “Respect” (Aretha Franklin, 1970).  (Monday) “The Ghetto” (Too Short, 1989) and “The Message” (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, 1990) (Wednesday).

 

Slide Presentation: Housing Crisis in Black Metropolis (Monday).

 

Reading assignments: In Bitter Fruit: Part 4 Chapter 9 Pp. 197-224.

 

Classroom instruction: We will engage in discussion on the politics of Black folks and attempt to unveil the dilemma they confront as they move into the 21st century. What vision and political ideology did Harold Washington bring to Blacks in particular and, Chicago, in general?

 

Homework assignment: Please keep-up with the readings. The third and final town hall meeting at the Marin Luther King Branch Chicago Public Library is on Thursday March 10th from 5:30 to 7:30pm. We are aware that some students may not be able to attend this town hall meeting because of class conflicts on Thursday March 10th. Service learning hours are part of the town hall meeting. Prior to the Town Hall meeting, we will tour the project sight to update the physical quality of life database. Transportation is provided. We will meet at the regular scheduled class time, 4:00pm, to tour and have a light diner in the project sight before the Town Hall meeting.

 

We will discuss on Monday the outline for multicultural service learning assignment and prepare all students for completing this assignment on March 16th (see attachment).

 

Reminder: Reflective book review of Bebe Moore Campbell Your Blues ain’t like mine is due March 9th.  Journals are due on Wednesday March 9th. Field notes/library research on books, articles, films, and music are due on Monday, March 7th. Please include in your field notes an outline of the audience that participated in the Chicago Bee branch Town Hall meeting.

 

Finals Week: March 15th and 17th Lecture and discussion: Review materials and information collected for project.

 

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 March 17th 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

                                                                                                                                Points

Journal                                                                                                                  100

Field notes                                                                                                            100

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

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

Book review                                                                                                          100

Field study                                                                                                            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,

photographic, 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

(1890-1950)

SOC 394/290

Winter 2005

 

Book Review Outline

 

The reflective book review of Your Blues ain’t like mine, should address the central points in the book 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 Black and White relationships depicted in the South and the North. Why was Armstrong Todd killed? Why did Wydell panic and end up in a hospital? Why did Floyd and Lilly feel like they had done nothing wrong? What role did Blacks play in the economy of the South and North?

 

b)       The relationship between Black and White characters in the film. Who were the Pinochets? What was the relationship between Ida and Clayton? Were they half-brother and sister? Why?

 

c)       The murder of Armstrong and how it signified and testified to the trails and tribulations of Blacks in the great migration to Bronzeville?

 

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 Your Blues ain’t like Mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

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 of 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 (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 and the BMP database located on the Quantitative Reasoning Center Web Page at http://qrc.depaul.edu/

 

 

 

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

Winter 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 = __________

 

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 = __________