The Rise of Chicago's Black Metropolis, 1920-1929

by Reed, Christopher Robert

• ISBN13: 9780252036231
• ISBN10: 0252036239
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-15
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

During the Roaring '20s, African Americans rapidly transformed their Chicago into a "black metropolis." In this book, Christopher Robert Reed describes the rise of African Americans in Chicago's political economy, bringing to life the fleeting vibrancy of this dynamic period of racial consciousness and solidarity. Reed shows how African Americans rapidly transformed Chicago and achieved political and economic recognition by building on the massive population growth after the Great Migration from the South, the entry of a significant working class into the city's industrial work force, and the proliferation of black churches. Mapping out the labor issues and the struggle for control of black politics and black business, Reed offers an unromanticized view of the entrepreneurial efforts of black migrants, reassessing previous accounts such as St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton's 1945 studyBlack Metropolis. Utilizing a wide range of historical data,The Rise of Chicago's Black Metropolis, 19201929delineates a web of dynamic social forces to shed light on black businesses and the establishment of a black professional class. The exquisitely researched volume draws on fictional and nonfictional accounts of the era, black community guides, mainstream and community newspapers, contemporary scholars and activists, and personal interviews.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Demography and Ethos	p. 9
The Whirl of Life The Social Structure	p. 34
The Golden Decade of Black Business	p. 71
Labor Both Fat and Lean Years	p. 118
The struggle for Control over Black Politics and Protest	p. 146
Transformed Religion and a Proliferation of Churches	p. 186
Cutural and Aesthetic Expressions	p. 201
Conclusion and Legacy	p. 209
Notes	p. 213
Bibliography	p. 253
Index	p. 265
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.