Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940–1960 (Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Modern History)

We often hear vague phrases such as "institutional racism" to explain the ills of blacks and the poor. Beneath the generalities and vague slogans of grievance, however, we rarely get a specific explanation of just how the wretched conditions of the modern ghetto were created. This book gives that explanation. It focuses on Chicago, from 1940 to 1960. Here is the basic story line. Prior to the Great Depression, the first Great Migration of blacks occurred from the South to Chicago. They were confined to one particular area, called the Black Belt, by white hostility, as manifested in the great riot of 1919. during the 1920s, 30s and 40s, more and more blacks came to Chicago. They were not permitted to live anywhere, but the Black Belt and little or no housing was built during the years of the Great Depression and World War Two. Thus, the Black Belt got very crowded and the conditions there grew very bad. There were two distinct housing markets, black and white, and housing cost more and was in worse condition in the black market. There was thus a desperate desire for housing in the black community, and a huge profit opportunity. It was very profitable for speculators to buy white homes, in areas near the Black Belt. They got buy them inexpensively, because of fear that encroaching blacks would ruin the neighborhood. They could then sell them for much more, to blacks, who paid higher prices. This dynamic meant that the black areas were always seeking to expand. The white community responded in three ways. First, a large number simply fled to the suburbs. Second, the powerful groups, such as the Downtown business interests and the University of Chicago, started to use political power to do massive "redevelopment" which had as it basic goal stopping the black community from taking over their areas. Third, the white ethnic immigrant communtieis, in the path of the black expansion, resisted black encroachment with violence. The great virtue of this book is that it lets you see the real motives of all of the people involved. Hirsch has a real understanding of, and some level of sympathy for, the white ethnics, who had worked hard, built up some community and were very understandably threatened by the blacks. If their area went black, they really WOULD lose their home equity and their community. They were not making this up. Hirsch also has a good understanding of liberals. He is very perceptive as he describes the Hyde park liberals, who talked a good line about integration, but ultimately defended their white turf with ruthless determination. He also explores how the liberals made the whole thing worse, by their attitude of condescension and disdain toward the white ethnics. The liberals in the Chicago Housing Authority and elsewhere simply viewed the white ethnics as barbarians, and sought to bulldoze them. The liberals never listened to the real concerns of the white ethnics or tried to deal with them. Thus, the situat

This is a very detailed account of the way the Chicago power elite responded to the Great Migration. Detailed, in fact, to the point of opacity. This is a scholarly work written with peer review in mind and therefore crafted for an academic audience. Nonetheless, it was able to give a person unfamiliar with Chicago and urban life (I was raised in the desert) an understanding of the forces that shaped the southside and westside ghettos.

Excellent review of how the Chicago Housing Authority, despite good intentions, ended up not only itself segregated, but reinforced existing housing segregation in the private market.Hirsch actually takes a much broader view of his subject than public housing. Rather, he exp;ores the various ways public policy was manipulated (generally by commercial interests) to serve their own ends, and how those profit driven manipulations resulted in Chicago being one of America's most segregated cities. Ironically, the dramatic expansion of the Black Ghetto chronicalled by Hirsch occurred at the same time that the country was under seige by the forces of McCarthism...yet in Chicago, the commercial interests (lead by Marshall Field) had no compunction about seizing private property to serve their own ends.Anyone who believes that neighborhoods are segregated because of private choices must read this book and learn the truth.

After reading The Hidden War,(which made extensive reference to Hirsch's book)I wanted a more detailed history about the creation of public housing as we know it to be in Chicago. This book gives detail of how the political,educational, civic organizations wanted to contain the burgeoning African American community which was growing during post world war II and the great migration years. The powerful in Chicago used government policies to maintain housing segregation...the powerless resorted to violence to keep African Americans out of neighborhoods...the results were the massive and bleak housing structures which are called public housing. This book not only talks about the historical wheelings and dealings of the white power structure, but it also gives insight into how the same tactics are being used today, to maintain certain class and racial segregation. This is a good companion must read along with The Hidden WARS.

I had to read this book for a college history class I took 2 years ago and I felt that it was extremely detailed and informative. I was quite surprised by my reaction because I felt it was a great read whether or not you enjoy historical books.