Patrick M. Martin Lexington High School

In his doctoral dissertation later turned book, Making the Second Ghetto, Race and Housing in Chicago: 1940-1960, Arnold Hirsch discusses the effects of great migratory expansion into northern cities by blacks and the housing problems that later ensued. Chicago would eventually become the pioneer in housing development for these citizens and much debate would follow regarding the true intention of these social programs. Questions began to arise as to whether the best interest for social housing was indeed for lower level blacks or for that of big business and political compromise.

With the major influx of black citizens into Chicago due to the possibility of wartime employment, limited housing in the city began to emerge as a major problem. Blacks had traditionally been limited to the region known as the "black belt" located on the city's Southside. However, between 1920 and 1960 the city's black population would grow from 109,458 to 812,637. As blacks began to move into the fringes of predominately white neighborhoods, tension began to rise between the various groups living there. Probably the most profound disruption came from ethnic groups who, not years earlier, had recently gained their own citizenry. As problems arose it became apparent that governing agencies would be called upon to address those those issues

I found Hirsch's book to be very informative as well as timely for the current unit that I was addressing in my own class. I felt that his attention paid to detail and fact provided me with more insight from which to draw additional information Although, at times it was evident that I was reading from the perspective of a fact based dissertation, ) I was provided with what I thought to be a great perspective from which to teach a variety of topics.

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