Synopses & Reviews
From 1976 to 1998, the Gautreaux Assisted Housing Program moved over 7,000 low-income black families from Chicago's inner city to middle-class white suburbsand#8212;the largest and longest-running residential, racial, and economic integration effort in American history.
Crossing the Class and Color Lines is the story of that project, from the initial struggles and discomfort of the relocated families to their eventual successes in employment and educationand#8212;cementing the sociological concept of the "neighborhood effect" and shattering the myth that inner-city blacks cannot escape a "culture of poverty."
"This book's history of Chicago public housing should be required reading for anyone interested in social policy in the United States."and#8212;Jens Ludwig, Social Service Review
"[The authors'] work is rightly cited as one of the important precedents in the field. . . . This is a remarkable, unassailable accomplishment and this book is an important record of their scholarly contribution."and#8212;John M. Goering, Ethnic and Racial Studies
Synopsis
The year 2001 saw a partial resurrection of the Gautreaux Assisted Housing Program, an ambitious project that, between 1976 to 1998, moved over 7,000 low-income black families, most from Chicago's inner city to middle-class white suburbs-the largest and longest-running residential, racial, and economic integration effort in American history. Crossing the Class and Color Lines, nominated for the 2001 Robert E. Park Award of the Community and Urban Section of the American Sociological Association, is the story of that project, from the initial struggles and discomfort of the relocated families to their eventual successes in employment and education-a study that cemented the sociological concept of the "neighborhood effect" and shattered the myth that inner-city blacks cannot escape a "culture of poverty."
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-225) and index.
About the Author
Leonard S. Rubinowitz is a professor at the Northwestern University School of Law.
James E. Rosenbaum is a professor of sociology, education, and social policy and a faculty fellow of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University.
Table of Contents
Foreword by
Alex KotlowitzAcknowledgments
ONE Introduction: A Modern Odyssey
PART 1 Getting There: From the Inner City to the
Suburbs
TWO Desegregation within the City's Limits: The
Scattered Site Program
THREE Inventing the Metropolitan-Wide Gautreaux
Program
FOUR Implementing the Gautreaux Program: Two Decades
of Moving Out
PART 2 Moving Experiences: For the Sake of the
Children
FIVE Families on the Move
SIX Safety First
SEVEN Social Interaction
EIGHT Schooling
NINE Education and Employment Outcomes
TEN Conclusion: The Road Ahead
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index