Lecture Notes for Apr 1, 2009

History 221 with Lee at University of Wisconsin - Madison

About this deck

By: Maddie Adams
Textbook: Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States

Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era

My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965 (Historical Studies of Urban America)

Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles (American Crossroads)
Created: 2009-04-05
Size: 24 flashcards
Views: 15

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financial impact
(3 answers)

loss of taxes -> less revenue
falling property values
city still had to provide services to suburbanites who didn't pay taxes for them

White flight
(5 answers)

FHA-supported -> didn't happen by accident
left to escape financially-struggling city governments
blockbusting
financial impact
psychological impact for suburbanites

psychological impact for suburbanites
(3 answers)

don't see themselves as involved in city problems
anyone who was considered white was allowed into the suburbs and accepted
segregated the cities racially and economically

construction of parks, highways, housing projects
(1 answer)

supported through both private and public efforts

left to escape financially-struggling city governments
(1 answer)

rising unemployment = rising crime levels

city still had to provide services to suburbanites who didn't pay taxes for them
(1 answer)

responsible for metropolitan population but couldn't tax all of them

if you waited too long and the neighborhood was already black, you would get less money for your house
(1 answer)

timing was very important

don't see themselves as involved in city problems
(2 answers)

not responsible
didn't want to provide revenue for helping the problems

Housing Act of 1949 -> federal government provides 2/3 cost of land, city provides 1/3
(1 answer)

sold land at below cost to developers

blacks mainly had unskilled jobs
(3 answers)

no access to apprenticeships because of lack of education
didn't have union jobs -> no job security and lower wages
industry said they weren't skilled enough for the jobs

real estate agent would bring in a black family to an all-white block
(1 answer)

whites became desperate to sell their homes, even at a loss

saw blights and slums as something that would spread across the city
(2 answers)

couldn't be rehabilitated -> had to be destroyed
thought people in slums needed to be put in better areas in order to become middle class

Detroit -> 1940s industry
(9 answers)

mix of blacks and whites at work
getting better housing meant moving to suburbs
destruction of housing with urban renewal (construction of freeways)
industry wanted to relocate to avoid unions
Detroit tried to clear areas to attract industry, but this failed
no great response to economic decentralization
white middle class families move to suburbs and increasing nonwhite population in city
riot in July 1967 -> example of frustration of people living in the city
resentment toward city government and police brutality

business and shopping centers move out into suburbs
(2 answers)

jobs go with them
increasingly unemployed urban population

increase in percentage of African-Americans in cities
(1 answer)

moved from southern rural areas

poor housing; difficult to get loans to rebuild
(1 answer)

not appealing to middle class whites

discrimination
(4 answers)

blacks frequently had worst jobs
unions officially supported racial equality but didn't always at local level
white workers didn't want to work with minorities
blacks mainly had unskilled jobs

What was the urban crisis?
(10 answers)

changing urban population
flight of business and revenue
declining built environment
increase in percentage of African-Americans in cities
rising middle class in minorities that could buy homes
business and shopping centers move out into suburbs
poor housing; difficult to get loans to rebuild
perception that US cities are dying and no way to rehabilitate them
urban poor needed services from cities
Detroit -> 1940s industry

considered unsuccessful
(5 answers)

didn't provide enough housing
extremely expensive
loss of historic buildings
working against trend of suburbanization
designed to make city more attractive to business and middle class whites, not to help the poor or provide housing

blockbusting
(8 answers)

assumption that status and identity depended on your possessions; house was #1 possession
integration would mean loss of property value and status
real estate agent would bring in a black family to an all-white block
if you waited too long and the neighborhood was already black, you would get less money for your house
complete flipping of neighborhoods -> very unstable
blacks paid more for the housing than whites
middle class blacks tried to escape the ghetto but because of the high racial turnover, it slowly crept up to them
difficult for blacks to get loans to improve their housing

industry wanted to relocate to avoid unions
(2 answers)

moved to areas hostile to blacks
trickling down of unemployment

Economic decentralization
(10 answers)

downsizing
decentralization
flight of good jobs left the poor unemployed
loss of source of taxes and services
downsizing to control costs of labor
industry moved to escape unions (new areas generally didn't have unions)
needed space to expand
suburban government was welcoming to industry -> tax breaks
Rust Belt -> factories were abandoned in north and northeast cities
discrimination

Urban renewal
(9 answers)

rebuild environment to attract business and residents
loss of housing
saw blights and slums as something that would spread across the city
construction of parks, highways, housing projects
Housing Act of 1949 -> federal government provides 2/3 cost of land, city provides 1/3
supposed to help residents find new housing, but that didn't always happen
neighborhoods frequently destroyed for freeway projects
considered unsuccessful
by 1960s, urban renewal moved away from destruction to rehabilitation

extremely expensive
(1 answer)

many projects weren't completed