Crucibles of Black Empowerment : Chicago's Neighborhood Politics from the New Deal to Harold Washington / Jeffrey Helgeson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Helgeson, Jeffrey, Author.

Series:

Historical studies of urban America.

Historical Studies of Urban America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Political activity--Illinois--Chicago.

African Americans.

Chicago (Ill.)--Politics and government--20th century.

Chicago (Ill.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (392 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The term "community organizer" was deployed repeatedly against Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign as a way to paint him as an inexperienced politician unfit for the presidency. The implication was that the job of a community organizer wasn't a serious one, and that it certainly wasn't on the list of credentials needed for a presidential résumé. In reality, community organizers have played key roles in the political lives of American cities for decades, perhaps never more so than during the 1970s in Chicago, where African Americans laid the groundwork for further empowerment as they organized against segregation, discrimination, and lack of equal access to schools, housing, and jobs. In Crucibles of Black Empowerment, Jeffrey Helgeson recounts the rise of African American political power and activism from the 1930s onward, revealing how it was achieved through community building. His book tells stories of the housewives who organized their neighbors, building tradesmen who used connections with federal officials to create opportunities in a deeply discriminatory employment sector, and the social workers, personnel managers, and journalists who carved out positions in the white-collar workforce. Looking closely at black liberal politics at the neighborhood level in Chicago, Helgeson explains how black Chicagoans built the networks that eventually would overthrow the city's seemingly invincible political machine.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures and Maps

Introduction: Chicago: City of Destruction and Crucible of Black Power

1. The Politics of Home in Hard Times

2. Community Development in an Age of Protest, 1935-40

3. "Will 'Our People' Be Any Better Off after This War?"

4. A Decent Place to Live: The Postwar Housing Shortage

5. Capitalism without Capital: Postwar Employment Activism

6. Sources of Black Nationalism from the 1950s to the 1970s

7. Harold Washington: Black Power and the Resilience of Liberalism

Postscript: The Obamas and Black Chicago's Long Liberal Tradition

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226130729

022613072X

OCLC:

967257299