Black Metropolis

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Black Metropolis
OCLC
186494767
Followed byupdated and expanded editions 

Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City, authored by

African-American urban experience in the first half of the 20th century.[1] Published in 1945, later expanded editions added some material relating to the 1950s and 1960s.[2] Relying on massive research conducted in Chicago, primarily as part of a Works Progress Administration program, Drake and Cayton produced, according to the Encyclopedia of African American History, a "foundational text in African American history, cultural studies, and urban sociology."[3]

Synopsis

The original text begins with an introduction by novelist Richard Wright in which he relates some of the research to the themes of his work, particularly the novel, Native Son. The preface of the book, authored by Drake and Cayton, provides an overview of the Black Metropolis. The first section of the book then sketches the history of African-Americans in Chicago, up to the early years of the Great Migration, when millions of African-Americans left the Southern United States for Northern cities.

The book continues with explorations of the forces which created the separate Black Metropolis, and how the community related to the wider city. Chapters include "Breaking the Job Ceiling", "Black Workers and the New Unions", and "Democracy and Political Expediency", in which the power politics of the newly dynamic community over the wider society is explored. The book continues with a detailed portrait on the life of the community in such chapters as "The Power of the Press and the Pulpit", "Negro Business", and separate chapters on the upper, middle and lower classes of the community.[4] The authors identify five overwhelming concerns of the entirety of the community—"staying alive, having a good time, praising God, getting ahead, and advancing the race."[4] The final section of the book is a note by sociology professor W. Lloyd Warner on the book's methodology.[4]

Publication history

The book had its origins in a research project conceived by Warner at the

Harcourt, Brace and Company wanted Wright for the introduction, and Cayton, who knew Wright, was able to get him.[5]

The book was expanded by Drake and Cayton in later editions in the 1950s and 1960s. It has been reissued by the University of Chicago Press in 1993 and 2015.[6]

Critical reception

In the

The Journal of Negro History, found the book a creditworthy and commendable effort. [8]

Criticism

Aimee Cox, in her 2015 study of a group of black girls in Detroit, states that although she was not interested in critiquing Black Metropolis, she denotes it as beginning a trend in urban sociology of focusing on the success of black men, and excluding black women. She also argues that the ideas of 'success' assumed in Black Metropolis for "advancing the race" are primarily economic and class based.[9][page needed]

According to James N. Gregory, writing in 2007, the book emphasized physical segregation and social disorganization theory, tending to diminish the achievements of the Black community and "introduc(ing) the ghetto story that would guide (perceptions for) the next half century." Gregory also argues there is irony that the very concept of the "Black Metropolis," which had been a "celebratory terminology" among Black journalists, was eroded by the study because, in Gregory's view, the study emphasized the limits of urban Black life, rather than its achievements.[10]

Awards

1946: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in nonfiction.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Black Metropolis. University of Chicago Press. 6 December 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  2. ^ Rosa, A. J. (2012). The Roots and Routes of 'Imperium in Imperio': St. Clair Drake, The Formative Years. American Studies 52(1), 49–75. Mid-American Studies Association. Retrieved February 12, 2016, from Project MUSE database.
  3. ^ Spatz, David A. (2009). "Drake, St. Clair". In Finkelman, Paul (ed.). Encyclopedia of African American History (1896–present). Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. p. 90.
  4. ^ a b c d Strong, S. M. (1946). Review of Black Metropolis. American Sociological Review, 11(2), 240–241.
  5. ^ a b Peretz, H. (2004). "The Making of Black Metropolis", The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 595, 168–175.
  6. ^ "Formats and Editions of Black metropolis : a study of Negro life in a northern city [WorldCat.org]". worldcat.org. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  7. ^ Lepawsky, Rosalind (1946), Review of Black Metropolis, A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City. The Journal of Politics, 8 (4). Southern Political Science Association: 565–67.
  8. ^ Woodson, C. G. (1946) Review of Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City. The Journal of Negro History, 31(1), 113–116.
  9. ISBN 978-0-8223-5931-9
    .
  10. OCLC 70273090
    .
  11. ^ "Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards - Black Metropolis". Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards - The 80th Annual. Retrieved February 26, 2016.

External links

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