The Origins Of The Urban Crisis: Race And Inequality In Postwar Detroit is a book written by Thomas J. Sugrue. Detroit once was considered a promised land for African Americans but because of economic restructuring in rapidly became communalized. Throughout the whole book Sugrue discusses the hardship of detroit from years 1943 through around 1968. He speaks on of course race and inequality but also the housing crisis of Detroit as well. Sugrue breaks this book into 3 parts which took me a while to pick up on. The 3 parts was called Arsenal, Rust, and Fire. The first part (Arsenal) goes into detail about how Detroit had such a hard time with housing. Due to the rapid increase of the automobile industry during world war 2 Detroit
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He argues that those developments usually associated with crumbling cities mainly deindustrialization were not responses to the urban crisis of the 1960s. Rather, they were what created anger and frustration among African American residents and quickly sparked the red hot summers of the 1960s. Deindustrialization changed the roots of Detroit I believe as Detroiters, black and white, fought a battle that would define Detroit politics for decades to follow. Sugrue also argues that explosions of racial antagonism were central to Detroit's culture as early as the Second World War. Sugrue also argues that white people lost confidence in liberalism and the New Deal state as a result of their experiences defending their neighborhoods against black homebuyers. This fact that black neighborhoods where crowed forced black residents to push on the harsh constraints imposed on them by pitiful white landlords and a racist culture. Black Detroiters tried many ways to manage their community's expansion but Sugrue argues that white people experienced these tactics as threats to their own economic and social well being. Sugrue is quick to point out the white violence against black people, or the fast paced abandonment of beat down areas. Sugrue's knowledge of economic and social history helps us better understand the decisions of Detroit residents in the 1940s through 1960s. Surgues main point of this book is how Detroit transformed from a wartime boomtown to a city struggling with post war recession and how the effect of African Americans fleeing to the city had a toll on the city. He had a very well thought out research on race, political economy and the urban roots of Detroit. He argues that by using Detroit as a case study, he is then able to place the city in a general historical context. It was a lot of
He argues that those developments usually associated with crumbling cities mainly deindustrialization were not responses to the urban crisis of the 1960s. Rather, they were what created anger and frustration among African American residents and quickly sparked the red hot summers of the 1960s. Deindustrialization changed the roots of Detroit I believe as Detroiters, black and white, fought a battle that would define Detroit politics for decades to follow. Sugrue also argues that explosions of racial antagonism were central to Detroit's culture as early as the Second World War. Sugrue also argues that white people lost confidence in liberalism and the New Deal state as a result of their experiences defending their neighborhoods against black homebuyers. This fact that black neighborhoods where crowed forced black residents to push on the harsh constraints imposed on them by pitiful white landlords and a racist culture. Black Detroiters tried many ways to manage their community's expansion but Sugrue argues that white people experienced these tactics as threats to their own economic and social well being. Sugrue is quick to point out the white violence against black people, or the fast paced abandonment of beat down areas. Sugrue's knowledge of economic and social history helps us better understand the decisions of Detroit residents in the 1940s through 1960s. Surgues main point of this book is how Detroit transformed from a wartime boomtown to a city struggling with post war recession and how the effect of African Americans fleeing to the city had a toll on the city. He had a very well thought out research on race, political economy and the urban roots of Detroit. He argues that by using Detroit as a case study, he is then able to place the city in a general historical context. It was a lot of