Introduction Connecting African American Urban History, Social Science Research, and Policy Debates

Abstract

Open any newspaper, listen to most news reports, catch the words of many politicians bemoaning the decline of the central city, and for years the images used to accompany the message pictured a black face. Since the 1960s, against the backdrop of race riots and general despair, the words black, inner city, ghetto and problems became connected and at times interchangeable. Oftentimes the stories produced appear as if blacks inhabit the inner cities alone. In this world there are no Asians, Latinos and Latinas, Native Americans, or whites. In this world the central cities are divided from power structures, businesses, labor unions, politics, and adjacent suburbs. In this world race and racism exist within a tightly bound space divorced from the larger society. Why is this? And just as important, how do we add a historical perspective to the long list of policy recommendations that have captivated public discourse for more than four decades? This books attempts to answer these and other questions. It also seeks to uncover the multiple histories of urban life in America. It centers on the history and lived conditions of African Americans, and places them in proximity and interactions with the broad spectrum of others who peopled this nation.