Social Studies Methods Class, Reading Tips.

Common Ground tops the list of must-read books going forward for my Social Studies Methods students.

It’s the final day of our Social Studies Methods Class, and today I am sharing some of the books that can be useful in developing their content knowledge:

1. Common Ground, by J. Anthony Lukas.  This Pulitzer-Prize winning work tells the story of three families in Boston during the turbulent decade that began with Dr. King’s assassination, and it is very much an American story about race, class, history and neighborhoods.  A master work.

2. There Are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz.  Former Wall Street Journal reporter and my former professor Kotlowitz expanded stories he wrote about brothers growing up in the Henry Horner Homes on Chicago’s West Side.  The title comes from a quote by the boys’  mother.

3. The Burning Tigris, by Peter Balakian.  Acclaimed poet, memoirist and literature professor Balakian tells the story of the human rights movement in America that sprung up to protest the Armenian Genocide.

4.  The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer.  Journalist Shirer provides one of the definitive accounts of Hitler’s rise to power and move toward genocide.

5. The Redemptive Self, by Dan McAdams.  This book by Northwestern professor McAdams talks about the concept of generativity, or what people create with their lives.  It can provide a useful framework for how teachers can evaluate what they and their students have accomplished.

Carl Smith on The Plan of Chicago

Carl Smith gives an effective introduction to The Plan of Chicago, which celebrates its centennial this year.

It’s been a century since Daniel Burnham and other members of Chicago’s civic elite unveiled the Plan of Chicago that remade the city, and the plan is receiving renewed scrutiny and attention.

Burnham’s oft-quoted dictum to “make no small plans “has been repeated regularly in the press, and the Chicago Matters public interest collaboration between WTTW, WBEZ,  the Chicago Public Library and my employer, The Chicago Reporter is titled Beyond Burnham.

Northwestern University History Professor Carl Smith has written a concise illustrated history of the Plan’s precedents, members, substance and impact called The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City.

An expansion of a project he did for the electronic version of the Encyclopedia of Chicago, The Plan of Chicago starts with a convincing description of Chicago’s sprawling and unurly physical, social and political character at the beginning of last century.  Smith then moves into a discussion and analysis of the plan’s antecdents in other cities like Paris-he is quick to note that the plan had its own distinct flavor-Burnham and the other Commercial Club members, their adherence to the concept of the City Beautiful, and their collective efforts to conceive, promote and implement the plan.

The Plan itself was a remarkably forward-looking document, and Smith notes toward the end of the book how its progressive ethos has been echoed in subsequent decades by the late Richard J. Daley, and, to a lesser degree, the creation of Millennium Park by his son, Richard M. Daley.

Smith includes and acknowledges Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs’ criticism of the plan as being excessively committed to monuments rather than shared civic space, and, generally, the work is a sympathetic appraisal of the plan and the men behind it.   As the title suggests, the project’s influence extended beyond Chicago into the nation as a whole. 

The Plan of Chicago has plenty of pictures, some of which are more useful than others.  Overall, the combination of words, images and a bibliographical essay is an effective introduction to a seminal effort to reshape Chicago that still has direct and indirect influence on how we live today and how we think of what the region should be like in the next 100 years.

Social Studies Methods Class, Warriors Don’t Cry

Melba Pattillo Beals recounts the battle to integrate Central High School in Little Rock in this memorable book.

We are in the final week of my Social Studies Methods Class this week, and the timing is auspicious.

Today, Terrence Roberts, one of the Little Rock Nine-African American teenagers who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957-is in Chicago for the first of a three-day stay in the city.   Roberts, who like the other students endured unimaginable abuse from the resistant white students, will be speaking to students, teachers, administrators and community during a packed visit sponsored by Facing History and Ourselves.

Roberts’ book about his experiences will be published this fall, and it should be a fascinating one.  The genial, lean psychologist and desegregation consultation has intelligence, wisdom and wit.  I look forward to reading his memoir.

For those who want to read more these brave teenagers sooner, I recommend Melba Patillo Beals’  Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High.  A memoir by another of the Little Rock Nine, the book interweaves diary entries from the time with newspaper headlines and Beals’ own memories to create an accessible and emotionally compelling work.

Beals opens the book with her childhood memories of segregation.  She writes, “Black folks aren’t born expecting segregation, prepared from day one to follow its confining rules.  Nobody presents you with a handbook when you’re teething and says, ‘Here’s how you must behave as a second-class citizen.’  Instead, the humiliating expectations and traditions creep over you, stealing a teaspoon of your self-esteem each day.”

Beals recounts an early awareness of segregation’s power over the adults in her life, thereby setting up the possibility that she could do something to lessen its hold.

The seeds of that opportunity came on May 17, 1954, when the Earl Warren-led Supreme Court unanimously issued the Brown v. Board of Education  decision that declared the 58-year-old doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ unconstitutional. 

Many school districts delayed the mandated integration, including the one in Little Rock. After the second Brown v. Board decision said districts should comply “with all deliberate speed,” the Little Rock district decided to comply.

The result was a year like no other Beals, Roberts, Elizabeth Eckford or anyone else in the community had ever experienced.  Beals recounts the endless death threats, the job loss for her mother and other parents of the nine students, the constant hurling of epithets, the summoning and then departure of the National Guard.

A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, Beals writes in clear and direct prose.  And, at times, some of the most moving sections come when she shares excerpts from her diary at that time. 

Beals also writes about famous incidents like when Minnijean Brown dumped a bowl of chili on one of her tormentors’ head and the cafeteria went silent except for the sound of the black workers clapping and her connection with Link, a white student.

Beals has gripping material to work with and makes a lot of it.  Warriors Don’t Cry is a memorable, well-written and accessible account of heroism by nine teenagers, their families and the few people who supported them.

Elliot Liebow on Tally’s Corner

Elliot Liebow paints a vivid picture of America's urban underclass in the 1960s in Tally's Corner.

The economic downturn has been the subject of nearly endless discussion since last fall.

Whether talking about President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package, the woes of the auto industry, or the thousands of people affected by Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme, people who care about finance have had ample material to consider.

But a different group in the country has gotten far less consideration.

They are the underemployed,  the people who before the crash were already out of work and had no real prospects of getting anything substantial or steady soon.

They are the people who in many ways have stopped looking because they know their prospects are so dim.

And, in many cases, they have not just joined these ranks, but have been among them for years, if not decades.

In American cities, a disproportionate number of these folks are black men. 

The late urban anthropologist Elliot Liebow spent thousands of hours with some of these men in Washington, D.C. in the early 1960s as part of his doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America.  Tally’s Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men, an intimate, poignant and ultimately somewhat depressing book about people living on America’s margins, is the product of his labors.

Liebow’s book engages on a number of levels.  

He depicts in vivid detail the world of people living on the corner, with particular attention to their calculations about jobs, their experiences with women and fatherhood, and the complex and constantly shifting relationships, alliances, rivalries and tensions between them. 

As the title implies, Tally is the book’s protagonist.  

Liebow writes evenly about the decisions the well-built and charismatic Tally makes, including his fitful work history, his intense but ultimately unsuccessful relationship with a woman he loved, his interactions with his children and his alternately brother-like then violently hostile relationships with his friends.

Of course, Tally is far from the only character. 

One of the book’s major strengths is Liebow’s ability to get inside the world and show the ever shifting network of connection and tension that makes up life on the corner. 

Liebow writes without judgment about these men’s choices, even as the reader feels his dual disappointment-at  the men when they do not show their better selves, and at the society that has created and maintained structures which make the existence of people like Tally far more likely.

Liebow also has a fascinating final chapter in which he tells the story of his efforts to gain access to the community of black men as a white outsider.  He explains the activities in which he did and did not participate and show how he is aware, even as he got tremendous access to the men, that he was not always seeing their unfiltered selves because of his whiteness.  This humility enhances his credibility and makes the reader wonder what else could have been part of the story.

A quick and accessible book,  Tally’s Corner is a sad reminder both that America’s underclass has existed for many decades and that there is great talent in our cities and rural areas that remains largely untapped. For a sobering look during a country’s time of struggle,  Tally’s Corner is well worth the time it takes to read.

Story Behind LeBron James and the Cavaliers’ Resurgence

Brian Windhorst and Terry Pluto have great material that they don't completely utilize in The Franchise.

Life is good for the Cleveland Cavaliers these days.

Coming off a franchise-record 66 wins in the regular season, the 2007  Eastern Conference champions have earned the overall top seed in the league and accompanying home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

In the first round, they are on the verge of sweeping the once-mighty Detroit Pistons, with a possible collision against the battered but proud defending champion Boston Celtics looming in the conference finals.

Attendance has continued to climb since the beginning of the decade, and superstar LeBron James’ jersey is the top selling item in the league.

It has not always been this way.

Despite a solid period in the early to mid-90s, where the Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Larry Nance, Ron Harper and Hot Rod Williams-led teams coached by Lenny Wilkens gave fans plenty to cheer about and Michael Jordan’s Bulls a worthy adversary, the Cavaliers had generally had a dismal history.

As anyone who has ever heard of a pick and roll knows, the Akron-born James is at the heart of the Cavaliers’ improvement, popularity and championship prospects.

Just 24 years old, the muscle bound MVP favorite continues to elevate his game and to add previously unseen dimensions to his seemingly limitless abilities.  This year, he has gained mention for Defensive Player of the Year after having a more casual approach to defense earlier in his career.  

In The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers, sportswriters Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst chronicle the Cavs’ history, how they landed James, and the process by which general managers Jim Paxson and Danny Ferry and owners Gordon Gund and Daniel Gilbert assembled the team that challenged the San Antonio Spurs for the 2007 NBA title.

For hoops fans, much of the information contained in The Franchise will be review-the Cavaliers’ dark years under owner Ted Stepien, the bright spot in the 90s, the questions about whether they tanked during James’ senior year so as to get a high position in the lottery and thus have a better chance of landing-and there is some new material. 

The negotiations with Nike about a contract that eventually totaled $100 million was informative and entertaining.  So, too, was reading about Gilbert’s 21 aphorisms for business success that he initially struggled, but ultimately was able to apply to the basketball. 

The book falls flat in its writing.  

It opens with what to this point has been James’ defining performance-his “Jordanesque” performance against the Pistons in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference finals in which he scored 29 of his team’s last 30 points on an array of dunks, drives, three-pointers and jumpers to lead his team to an overtime victory.

James’ performance is a gift to any sportswriter. 

Not only was it one for the ages, not only was it his official emergence as a transcendent superstar, not only did it bring his team all the way back from an 0-2 deficit, and not only did it show the team surpassing its former tormentors, but James scored his points in the flow of the game. 

Little of this comes through in The Franchise.  Instead, the description of the action reads more like the recounting of a box score than providing the color, drama and excitement that the moment created.

Still, if you are looking for a quick informative read rather than on a search for inspirational writing, The Franchise could be the right read.  It will take most readers about as much times as James and the Cavaliers will need to dismantle the Pistons this afternoon.

Armenian Genocide, Peter Balakian’s Black Dog of Fate.

Peter Balakian's memoir about growing up in suburban New Jersey also tells about the Armenian Genocide.

Yesterday marked 94 years since the Ottoman Empire began the systematic annihilation of hundreds of thousands of Armenian people in what has since become known as the Armenian Genocide.

The Turkish government denies that the genocide ever happened; to say the opposite-to state the truth, in other words-is to commit a crime in Turkey.

A number of academics and authors like Taner Akcam and Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk have faced legal action due to their efforts to crack the nearly 100-year-old wall of denial.

Poet and professor Peter Balakian’s grandmother was one of the survivors.  He recounts his memories of growing up in an Armenian home in 1950s and 60s suburban New Jersey and his grandmother’s remarkable efforts to recoup her losses from the Turkish government in Black Dog of Fate: An American Son Uncovers His Armenian Past.

The book essentially reads as two separate but related parts.  Balakian shares childhood experiences, including his grandmother’s ghost-like appearances when he is sick and taking in cryptic phrases like the book’s title in an effort to render her experience.

The second half turns to Balakian’s grandmother’s tale of survival and unrelenting and ultimately successful attempt to get some measure of redress from the Turkish government for the material losses she sustained.

At moments, the two parts feel so distinct that one wonders if the book could have worked more effectively as two separate works.  Still, Balakian’s honesty, attention to detail, sense of humor and absurdity and his grandmother’s courage draw the reader along in this noteworthy, readable and significant work.

The Beautiful Things Heaven Bears

Dinaw Mengestu's debut novel is a fine choice for people celebrating spring's late arrival.

So … spring looks like it has finally come to Chicago. 

You can see the tangible relief on people’s faces, even as they still, like me, seem a little reluctant to trust that good weather is here to stay, and thus are still walking around in clothes that function in both winter and spring.

I’m going to take a risk and say we’re going to be all right for the next few weeks, at which point we’ll head right into the 90 plus degree Chicago summers for which the city is so well known.

Whatever happens in the future, it’s pleasant out now.

For people looking for a relaxing outdoor first novel, I recommend Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears.  

Mengestu tells the story of an Ethiopian immigrant halfheartedly eking out an existence by running a grocery story in Washington, DC. 

Sepha Stephanons, the protagonist, passes the evening by occasionally consorting with prostitutes, and, more often, spending time with fellow African immigrants.  The three men have developed a game in which they name African countries by the year and name of the military dictator that has come to power.

Stephanos’ comparative equilibrium is dislodged when he meets Judith, a white history professor, and Naomi, her biracial young daughter.  The two have moved into the largely black neighborhood and become frequent customers and visitors in the store.  An awkward and ultimately unfufilled courtship develops between the lonely exile and the single mother. 

Along the way, Mengestu weaves in Stephanos’ memories of his homeland, to which it appears he will never return, his interactions with his uncle, who lives in an Ethiopian enclave, and his poignant interactions with his fellow Africans, one of whom he sees at work in a memorable scene that leaves both men and the reader uncomfortable.

Stephanos’ inattention to the business and mounting financial troubles form another element of the story.

Judith’s forced departure in the end after the neighborhood protests against white gentrification feels a bit contrived, and there are scenes that do not flow as easily and smoothly as others. 

Nonetheless, Mengestu has achieved a significant accomplishment not only in rendering a rarely-told experience of Ethiopian immigrant life, but also in doing so in plain language,  by having a keen sense of detail and by writing a full and moving portrait of an intelligent and reflective man searching for his place in the world.

Horace Greeley, Champion of Freedom

Robert Williams tells about Horace Greeley's unstinting commitment to freedom in this rewarding book.

Personal freedom has been in the news a lot of late, as the Obama Administration has revealed the unsavory interrogation methods used during the Bush Administration.

Among the most recent revelations: former Secretary of State Cond0leezza Rice and former Vice President Dick Cheney knew about and approved the use of ‘waterboarding’ as a technique to gather information from suspected terrorists after the September 11 terror attacks.

From deep in his grave, where has been buried for more than 135 years, Horace Greeley is probably writing outraged editorials.

The idealistic and passionate Greeley acted in many capacities during his 61 years of life. 

He was alternately the nation’s leading newspaperman, the alleged author of one of America’s most enduring phrases-”Go West, young man”-an interim member of Congress, a would be negotiator during the waning days of the Civil War, and, finally, a Republican candidate for president in 1872.

Davidson College Emeritus History Professor Robert C. Williams tells the story of Greeley’s prodigious energy, his unending commitment to freedom  and the times in which he lived in an accessible and engaging biography, Horace Greeley, Champion of American Freedom.

Williams paints a full portrait of Greeley starting with his birth in Amherst, New Hampshire, continuing through the formation of his intellectual, spiritual and political beliefs, and the application of those ideals during his often frenetic adult life.

Greeley lived during an enormously important period in American and world history, and seems almost like a 19th Century Forrest Gump.

A dizzying array of characters, from a young Karl Marx to a highly frugal, if not indigent, Henry David Thoreau, to Abraham Lincoln, with whom Greeley had a contentious if ultimately admiring relationship, pass through the book’s pages.

Williams shows how Greeley took a while to warm to the cause of anti-slavery, and, once enlisted, went after it with his trademark vigor.  Williams also has extensive information about Greeley’s support of the various revolutions that swept through Europe in 1848 and his continual advocacy for the common man, and, eventually, woman.

To his credit, Williams does not back away from showing Greeley’s less savory side in his personal and professional life. 

A workaholic who may have had Asperger’s Syndrome, according to Williams, Greeley spent little meaningful time with his wife Molly, who bore seven children and lost five of them.  He was roundly criticized for his backdoor efforts at diplomacy with Confederate agents in Canada and ultimately devastated by his loss for the presidency to war hero Ulysses S. Grant. 

Still, Greeley’s accomplishments were many and his willingness to speak his mind commendable.  Readers looking for light during this challenging time in which past governmental abuses are being revealed would do well to read this informative and engaging book.

Uncovering the life of George Washington Williams

George Washington Williams is the subject of a well written biography by the late John Hope Franklin.

I’ve been on a bit of a John Hope Franklin kick recently, and read a book yesterday of his that I enjoyed a lot.

As its name suggests, George Washington Williams: A Biography is about George Washington Williams, an African American who crammed an awful lot of life into his 41 years on the planet. 

Starting from very humble beginnings, Williams was at different points a solider in two wars, a pastor at Roxbury’s Twelfth Baptist Church, the first black state representative in Ohio, an accomplished historian who wrote respected and pioneering histories of black people, a nominated diplomat and a fearless traveler who confronted Belgium’s King Leopold about his country’s treatment of people in the Congo, Williams and his story were largely unknown when the recently deceased Franklin began his studies of him.

Franklin’s purposes are both to recover Williams’ story and to place it squarely in the tradition of mid- to late- nineteenth century America. 

As with many of his other works,  including his most widely circulated work, From Slavery to Freedom, Franklin’s subject is a critical element of his belief about what constitutes legitimate history.  

By writing about Williams, Franklin is making a strong statement both about who should be included in the American story, and, beyond that, that Williams’ personal qualities and actions place him firmly within the mainstream of American life, rather than on the margins.

George Washington Williams includes a recounting of the various chapters in the protagonist’s life, with summarizing analyses and transitions at the end of each chapter. 

Franklin does not hesitate to show his subject’s weak points: he often fudged personal details and other facts, for instance.  The author assesses these faults by saying they make Williams human, and, in some ways, underscore his remarkable nature and accomplishments.

The book also has a fascinating and unusually personal introduction titled, “Stalking George Washington Williams” that recounts Franlkin’s efforts across many states and countries to learn about this previously ignored man.  In a section reminiscent of Alice Walker’s essay about searching for Zora Neale Hurston’s grave in Florida, Franklin describes a similar process with Williams.

Like much of Franklin’s work, George Washington Williams is clearly argued and accessibly written. And, more than some of his other books, this one gave me a sense not only of his subject, but of the times and how Williams reflected, and, to a small degree, shaped them.

I recommend giving it a read.

Social Studies Methods Class, Wikipedia Revolution

Andrew Lih has written a breezy and informative account of Wikipedia, the rapidly expanding and often controversial online encyclopedia.

Today is the eighth session of the Social Studies Methods Class I am teaching at the University of Chicago, and I’m looking forward to it.

In many ways, students entering the teaching world now have a distinct set of challenges compared to when I was in their position in the late 80s and early 90s.

Chief among the obstacles and accompanying opportunities are the possibilities created by technology.

On the one hand, my students and their charges can be connected to each other,  to people across the world and to a flood of information at any minute.  On the other hand, figuring out how to navigate and assess the quality of that information can be extremely difficult.

Wikipedia is a major vehicle and contributor to some of these issues.

Since its inception in the earlier part of this decade, the online encyclopedia has absolutely exploded, becoming one of the Internet’s most visited sites and the focus of many internal and external debates about collaborative and democratic knowledge sharing, quality control, and, at times, cultural values.

Journalist Andrew Lih has written a breezy and largely admiring account of the site’s origins and astounding growth in The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World’s Greatest Encyclopedia.

The book traces the site’s origins in the open source programming movement through the founders’ initial efforts to create an online encyclopedia to its spark catching and growing to become a major force in many languages and cultures.

Lih does not shy away from showing some of Wikipedia’s dark moments such as the inaccurate entry on John Seigenthaler and the even more damaging cases of Essjay, a prolific and valued editor who completely misrepresented his academic credentials and thereby, once exposed, damaged the site’s precious credibility.

Lih also has an engaging section about how culture influences the type and character of conversations in Wikipedia’s many languages.

Still, this is unquestionably an admiring and informative, if quick, telling of the story of a prominent site and its possibilities and pitfalls.