Changing Boundaries: The South Side of Chicago
Read the essay and view the attached photo essay in Mother Jones Magazine. Then write a paragraph response in which you connect issues discussed in this article to many of the issues of racial boundaries that we read about and discussed in class in the past few weeks.
You many want to write about A Raisin in the Sun, Our America, or any of the articles and poems we read. You might also consider the images we discussed such as The Great Migration series from Jacob Lawrence or the photographs in 12 Million Black Voices.
Please sign your post with your first name and class period.
posted by Peggy Doyle at
9:37 PM
7 Comments:
This story is a real life story of a boy watching the racial boundaries in his formerly all-white neighborhood into an all black neighborhood. It talks about a moving day, and, like A Raisin in the Sun, shows an African-American elder's hopes of creating a better life for their family. Jerald Walker's father is like Mama; the are both trying to create a better life for their family by escaping their crammed apartment for a house in a nice, and all-Caucasian, neighborhood. Also, I feel like Changing Boundaries could be the continuation of A Raisin in the Sun, showing what happens after the Younger family moves into Clybourne Park, the increasing population of African-Americans following the same tact as the Youngers and the Walkers, and the decreasing population of the Caucasians due to white flight.
Alex
Doyle 8-9
Alex, This is a spot on comment. I agree that this story is a continuation of the story in Raisin.
Ms. Doyle
This story has a connection to the painting "move in day" and the play"raisin in the sun." It has the connection to "move in day" and "raisin in the sun" because of the way they moved into an almost all white neighborhood. It also shows the way that boundaries move. Ambition people move into a neighborhood that is mostly a different race. This scares some people away and attracts other. This changes the race of people in a certain neighborhood very quickly.
marwan
period 8-9
doyle
This story relates to Raisin in the Sun and Moving Day (the painting) greatly. Moving Day would basically be the first day of the first African-American family moving in. It relates to Raisin in the Sun because they both are the story of an African-American family moving into an all-white neighborhood. Jerald Walker's father would be Mama, and maybe Jerald would be Travis. I agree with Alex that this story could be a continuation of Raisin in the Sun due to the similarities in those situations.
- Cole
Per 3/4
I find an obvious connection between the article Dreams From My Father and the painting Moving Day by Norman Rockwell. Both explore the racial tensions that exist in integrated neighborhoods, particularly toward the middle of the twentieth century. Even though Moving Day is just a painting, you can feel the animosity and scrutiny surging between the white and black children. From what Jerald Walker says in Dreams From My Father, you notice that as a child, Mr. Walker got along well with the Caucasian children in his neighborhood. But after just five years of living in said neighborhood, essentially all of Jerald’s white neighbors had packed up and moved to the suburbs, deserting their family-friendly businesses and letting their nice, integrated, safe neighborhood turn into a ghetto. He illustrates further the point Norman Rockwell was trying to get across in his picture—racial tension is like a virus. It spreads and infects and creates massive issues that provoke people to uproot their lives and move far away just to escape the looming friction between whites and blacks.
-Marissa
Doyle 8/9
It is suprising how fast and easily the racial bounderies move in this story. It seems almost like the ghetto is following the African-Americans when they move to the white neighborhood. After only five years after moving into a white neighborhood it has become a ghetto again and all the whites have moved out. It reminds me of "Our America" in the way that LeAlan and Lloyd think they cannot escape the ghetto, that they are trapped in the box that surrounds the ghetto. Here its almost the same, execpt the box follows the African-American family even when they try to get out of it.
Frank
doyle 3-4
3-19-09
hope everyone is having a nice spring break
This could well be the ending of A Raisin in the Sun. This article is about the moving into a white neighborhood and A Raisin in the Sun is about the challenges of going into the white neighborhoods. I think this also shows that kids are more accepting then parents. For example, a white boy comes to the house and becomes friends with the author, which knocks down a major racial barrier. The parents instead of making friends with the new neighbors are the ones who decided to flea when they arrived! Kids accept, make friends and try to knockdown racial boundaries, while parents run and keep the boundaries up.
Sam 0 Period: 8-9
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