Summary Of Suburban American Problems And Promise

The overall argument of Robert O. Self’s Introduction, in the book “American Babylon,” are the different aspects of postwar Oakland and the East Bay, socially, economically, and politically. There are three key claims Self makes in the Introduction. First, Self claims there were two controversial political ideologies in postwar Oakland, one being black power, including politics of deference and empowerment, and second a neo-populist, conservative homeowner politics of white residents. Another claim Self makes is the idea that the postwar black struggle and politics of suburban building shaped the political culture in Oakland and the East Bay. The third key claim Self makes is the modernization of space; space as property, as a social imagination, and as a political scale.

The idea of equality for all people, regardless of their race, is instilled in the American society of today. Unfortunately, this idea has not always been present, which ultimately has caused many issues for America’s society in the past. As discussed in the book Our Town: Race, Housing, and the Soul of Suburbia, David L. Kirp focuses on the inequality that was found between the low-income blacks and the middle class whites in a South Jersey town, Mount Laurel. At the time, the whites had a goal of running the blacks out of the town by making the costs of housing expensive enough where blacks could not afford it. This lead to unequal treatment for the blacks who lived in Mount Laurel compared to the whites when it came to housing opportunities.

The title of the documentary is “Suburban America: Problems & Promises”. The intended audience for this documentary is individuals that do not know the history of how suburban areas came about, and how they have changed and grown dramatically over the years. It also explains the political impact that the growing suburban areas has on our government and how expanding these areas can change the outcome of an election. Suburban areas grew after the soldiers came home after WWII. Many suburban areas in the beginning were segregated.

He talks about how cities were seen as ‘dirty’ and infested with homeless people, drug addicts, panhandlers, and porn shops everywhere, while the suburbs were seen as a ‘clean’ and orderly place to settle down and raise a family, particularly referring to the ‘white-flight’ that occurred in the 1970s and 80s. Hayes discusses how the migration of black people out of the South turned America’s cities into places of ‘concentrated blackness.’ “Federal policy facilitated both the construction of the ‘ghetto,’ large areas of black residents and disinvestment, and white flight to the suburbs, abetted by subsidized mortgages and racially discriminatory lending guidelines.” (Hayes, 2017, p. 40) Because of institutional racism and classism, the cities became concentrated areas for the Colony, and the suburbs became a place of escape and solace for the

Isaac Shaw October 9, 2014 Hist 2020 Dr. Paulauskas Paper #1 In the 1890’s, America was starting to experience changes leading to new revelations in the way it functioned in mass communication, mass transportation, and urbanization. In Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, he brings the seemingly different stories of two men in this time period, one a mass murder, H.H. Holmes and, the other a grand architect, Daniel Burnham to explain how America was changing into a more modern era. First, both Burnham and Holmes used the popularity of urbanization to achieve their individual goals.

The documentary that we needed to watch for this essay is titled "Suburban America: Problems & Promise. " The movie is produced and directed by Ron Rudaitis, and its intended audience are students, community leaders, educators, as well as anyone who is interested in learning about the challenges that suburbs face, their history, as well as the role that they played in shaping the American society. The primary purpose of the documentary is to inform its audience about suburbia. The film briefly focuses on informing the viewer about the history of suburbs.

In the text “Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America” informs us about ethnic enclaves in the United States in an article by Brian J. Godfrey. Chapter 3: New Ethnic Landscapes informs us about how a town can become an establishment such as a monument to one city. Ethnic Enclaves: Consolidation of Place-based Identities on page 67 explains the identities found within cultural landscaping and how its shape and effects reflect on the demographics of the city. Historical monuments and services also shape the ethnic enclaves of ones city. I will be analyzing San Francisco’s Chinatown ethnic enclaves

Most people can pinpoint the changes that occurred in their urban areas; they noticed more non-native individuals move into their urban neighborhoods, following them came the increase of rent and the change of scenery. There was always a name for this issue, but it never surfaced until the late 1990’s. The term Gentrification comes from British sociologist Ruth Glass. “Once this process of gentrification starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the original working class occupiers are displaced and the social character of the district is changed”. (Kissam 2)

This process can come with the renovation of old landmarks and buildings or making new buildings where the old building once stood. The process when done correctly, has a positive outcome for community. Sometimes this process can come with scrutiny since most of the people of these higher class are white. Although there are many reason not to be for gentrification the purpose of this paper it to give my perspective on why I believe gentrification is good for communities. I believe gentrification within communities, serves a great purpose because it creates from what is dead, helps rid of what was bringing down the community , and overall make the community more pleasurable for everyone’s that encounters within

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth is a documentary that explores public housing in Saint Louis, Missouri, in particular the history of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex. Pruitt-Igoe was a public housing project billed as the perfect solution in the early 1950s, to solve the problems of slums in Saint Louis and to bring people back into a city that had seen a population decline from previous years. Saint Louis was an ageing city desperate to regain their postwar prominence as a bustling city, but faced many challenges pertaining to the racial makeup of the segregated city and the loss of many jobs to suburban areas. Many whites had begun to participate in what is now referred to as “white flight”, or the migration of middle class whites to

Lance Freeman, an associate professor of urban planning in Columbia, wanted to investigate if there was any displacement going on in two predominantly black neighborhoods that was briskly gentrifying. Much to his dismay, he couldn’t find any correlation between gentrification and displacement. What was surprising to Freeman was his discovery, “poor residents and those without a college education were actually less likely to move if they resided in gentrifying neighborhoods”. (Sternbergh, 19) Freeman adds, “The discourse on gentrification, has tended to overlook the possibility that some of the neighborhood changes associated with gentrification might be appreciated by the prior residents.” (Sternbergh, 19)

The documentary asserts how these deprived people are forced to live in these subpar conditions. For example, many scenes in the documentary display that housing is scarce and the little housing that is available on the reserve is falling apart into pieces. Families are having to paying rent for years after years before they can claim that house their home. It is unfortunate to watch one struggle with housing when a couple miles south there are enormous houses being built just for show and hardly any tenants living in them. The urban house market revolves around the almighty dollar and instead of building basic homes for people on reserves to live in, the

It is this displacement that causes segregation in cities like Cleveland, Ohio and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. However, if the meaning of gentrification is changed, and people work towards making sure the upper-income families and the underprivileged are able to live together in the same community, segregation would subside. As suggested

Neighborhoods want to be prosperous and not discriminated against in America. 12. “Sundown Towns” has written by Dr. James W. Loewen and was about the explosive story of radical exclusion

Title: Gentrifying Chicago neighborhoods. General Purpose: To inform my audience of Gentrification in the Norther part of Chicago around the 1960s. Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, the audience will understand the meaning of gentrification, how Puerto Rican families in the Northern part of Chicago lost their homes to Gentrification, how they fought against gentrification, and how gentrification is now occurring to Mexican families in the Southern part of Chicago. Thesis: Puerto Rican families lost their homes in the 1960s when Lincoln Park was gentrified despites their best efforts, and today Mexican families are losing their homes in Pilsen to gentrification. Introduction I. Attention: What would you risk in order to continue having a home?