Block by Block: Neighborhoods and Public Policy on Chicago's West Side

by Amanda I. Seligman

In the decades following World War II, cities across the United States saw an influx of African American families into otherwise homogeneously white areas. This racial transformation of urban neighborhoods led many whites to migrate to the suburbs, producing the phenomenon commonly known as white flight. In Block by Block , Amanda I. Seligman draws on the surprisingly understudied West Side communities of Chicago to shed new light on this story of postwar urban America.

Seligman's study reveals that the responses of white West Siders to racial changes occurring in their neighborhoods were both multifaceted and extensive. She shows that, despite rehabilitation efforts, deterioration in these areas began long before the color of their inhabitants changed from white to black. And ultimately, the riots that erupted on Chicago's West Side and across the country in the mid-1960s stemmed not only from the tribulations specific to blacks in urban centers but also from the legacy of accumulated neglect after decades of white occupancy. Seligman's careful and evenhanded account will be essential to understanding that the "flight" of whites to the suburbs was the eventual result of a series of responses to transformations in Chicago's physical and social landscape, occurring one block at a time.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Wendy Plotkin]

I am re-reading this book by a colleague and friend for a review. It is a fascinating story of the attempts by white residents of the West Side of Chicago to use various strategies to upgrade the physical quality of the neighborhood, and, at the same time, forestall the racial integration that had begun in the 1950s. Each chapter describes a different strategy, including bidding for the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois (unsuccessfully -- it eventually went to the Near West Side of Chicago).

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

really interesting to learn about how city parks have been used by to try to keep african-americans out of west side neighborhoods. for instance, i had no idea that white west siders tried to get the city to put UIC in garfield park because they thought it would put a stop to african-american migration into their neighborhood...

[Robertha]

I'v actually read this one before but it's due for a reread: the brutal story of how official policy, predatory real estate practices and the canny manipulation of racist prejudices helped make the West Side a poor, black and socio-economically isolated ghetto.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers some really cutting facts about the racial turnover of Chicago. It is a great book for learning about the history of the West Side of Chicago... if you are interested in such stuff.