Cable, S., & Mix, T. (2003). Economic Imperatives and Race Relations: The Rise and Fall of the American Apartheid System. Journal of Black Studies, 34(2), 183-203.

In this article, the authors discuss the legal and systematic separation that characterized U. S. society, looking at both the reasons for its formation and the events that helped to bring about its decline.

Questions:

1. What evidence is present to support the author's claim that U.S. institutions – such as education, politics, economics, and neighborhoods – continue to produce racial differences?

 

Fischer, M. (2008). Shifting Geographies: Examining the Role of Suburbanization in Blacks' Declining Segregation. Urban Affairs Review, 43(4), 475-496.

This article examines recent trends in blacks' moves to the suburbs, and their continued urban segregation. Although this article features some extensive statistical analysis, it does explore a very interesting phenomenon in the current racial segregation of living spaces.

Questions:

1. What are some explanations for the uneven distribution of black in urban areas, and what are some causes for their increasing move to the suburbs?
2. Why are there different rates of urban/suburban segregation in different geographic regions of the country?

Baumle, A., & Fossett, M. (2005). Statistical Discrimination in Employment: Its Practice, Conceptualization, and Implications for Policy. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(9), 1250-1274.

In this article, the authors explore how the phenomenon of statistical discrimination may begin to replace more traditional forms of "prejudice-based discrimination."

Questions:

1. What is statistical discrimination, and how is it different from other forms of discrimination?
2. What suggestions do the authors make for combating racial discrimination in employment?

 

Schiele, J. (2005). Cultural Oppression and the High-Risk Status of African American. Journal of Black Studies, 35(6), 802-826.

The author makes that argument that, while much attention has been paid to political and economic oppression faced by African Americans, less attention has been paid to cultural oppression, particularly to the view that cultural oppression is foundational in explaining high social vulnerability.  He argues that cultural oppression, tied to more obvious forms of economic and political oppression, has produced specific risk factors that inhibit both individual and group attainment and prosperity. 

Questions:

1. How does the author define cultural oppression/imperialism?  What are the general consequences of cultural oppression/imperialism?  What are the 3 risk factors identified by the author?
2. What is cultural amnesia?  Why is it devastating to oppressed populations?
3. The author argues that one consequence of cultural oppression is a tendency toward compromising the overall vision of group advancement in order to maximize personal gain.  Do you agree?  How could this phenomenon be tied to industrial market/consumer capitalism?
4. What are the consequences of spiritual alienation?

 

Bailey, A., Tolnay, S., Beck, E., & Laird, J. (2011). Targeting Lynch Victims: Social Marginality or Status Transgressions? American Sociological Review, 76(3), 412-436.

This article uses Census data and on-line genealogical records to identify Black male lynching victims in order to link the selection of lynching victims to social marginality. Their study covered 10 states in the American South between 1882 and 1930. Their findings demonstrate that social marginality significantly increased the likelihood of being targeted for lynching.

Questions:

1. What social functions did lynching serve?  What are the 6 factors that placed African Americans at the most risk for lynching?
2. What are the 2 theoretical perspectives on vulnerability discussed by the authors?  Outline the hypotheses used to test these two perspectives.

 

Grant, E. (2005). Race and Tourism in America's First City. Journal of Urban History, 31(6), 850-871.

This article details the first effort by a major US city to attract minority tourists.  The author argues that African American tourists to Philadelphia increased dramatically during the monitoring period, and that this increase represents a fusion of politics and racial formation.

Questions:

1. What was the Multicultural Affairs Congress (MAC)? When was it established, by whom, and what were its central goals?
2. What city policies were changed in order to encourage minority tourism?  What other kinds of changes were instituted?
3. What new plane of urban racial politics does the author state that these successes may allow?

 

O'Hara, S. (2011). "The Very Model of Modern Urban Decay": Outsiders' Narratives of Industry and Urban Decline in Gary, Indiana. Journal of Urban History, 37(2), 135-154.

This article details the narratives of decline deployed by residents of Gary, Indiana.  The author describes compelling links between these narratives and exigent racial issues and prejudices during the industrial and postindustrial periods.

Questions:

1. What are the different types of narratives of decline described by the author?
2. What do these narratives share or have in common?  What are the most significant differences among them?
3. How is race used to vilify different racial and ethnic actors’ roles in the decline and deindustrialization of Gary?