miami: another postwar case study

I attended the UM when we won our 2nd  championship.

Mohl builds on Arnold Hirsch's study.

I am looking forward to next week's class and not because it is the last class of the semester. I will really miss the students, some of whom are graduating seniors. I am also looking forward to talking to them about black urban culture as it relates to Miami, my hometown. As mentioned earlier on this blog, my next research project involves an exploration of race and space in Miami across time.  At some point along the way, I will be attentive to the impact of the University of Miami's football program on race relations in South Florida. Whenever I say as much, many people mention ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary on the University of Miami, which certainly addresses this issue in passing. 

Miami in 1919, Perry Castaneda Collection, UT-Austin

The students will not only see this outstanding documentary next week, but will also read an excerpt from University of Alabama at Birmingham's Raymond Mohl and Mark Rose's study on interstate highway politics in South Florida. They will also read a Mohl essay on how Arnold Hirsch's second ghetto thesis relates to postwar housing patterns in Miami (Teresa Van Dyke, a librarian in Special Collections at Florida Atlantic University and one of Mohl's MA students, has also used Miami as a site to explore the second ghetto thesis).

As also earlier mentioned, my family's own migratory patterns in Miami-Dade County certainly demonstrate the belief by Mohl and others that the movement and relocation of African Americans from segregated housing, or "ghettoes," to other areas that eventually became segregated, or "second ghettoes," was a result of many factors including racial hostility via public policy and realtor practice. 

What new things can we learn about the postwar housing experiences of African Americans in urban areas? How can our new understandings of the ways in which "blackness" is understood differently in a county like Miami where people often come from Latin and Caribbean communities push our thinking on this issue? 

The map pictured here depicts Miami before the Second World War, shortly after some of my paternal ancestors relocated to Miami from the Bahamas. Other ancestors would arrive from Georgia and after the war, from Mississippi. 

Just seeing the words "Atlantic Ocean" on the map makes me long for the smell of salt in the air. My family originally lived in the Coconut Grove section of Miami before relocating to then-Carol City, which is in the "second ghetto" about which Mohl writes (neither are pictured on the map). To us, it was wonderful step up as this neighborhood was mostly middle class and filled with three and four bedroom houses. Carol City is now in the City of Miami Gardens. You can always tell how long someone has lived in South Florida. If they call Miami-Dade simply "Dade County" or Carol City simply "Carol City," they have been there for a while.

first course reading

.British heiress Nancy Cunard in Harlem circa 1930s.

I don't remember the first time I heard the words "Miss Anne," the dismissive nickname used for a white woman or white girl. I do recall being intrigued when a colleague told me about Carla Kaplan's recently published study on an untold narrative: white women in 1930s Harlem. Most people who are familiar with the life of African American novelist-playwright Zora Neale Hurston have heard of Charlotte Mason, a patron of Hurston's during this period. I'd heard, too, of Nancy Cunard, a wealthy British woman and activist, who - like Mason - figures into the story of black arts in Harlem. While reading the opening pages of Miss Anne in Harlem, I couldn't help but think about the ruckus surrounding Miley Cyrus' music and videos of late. I decided to pair the first chapter of this book with one Cyrus video as a means of initiating this course's interest in race and the urban space in the United States. I look forward to meeting the students this coming Wednesday and discussing these and other issues.

"...all will be well in the garden."

Still from "Being There,"(Dir. Hal Ashby), a 1979 film, starring Peter Sellers. It traces the experiences of a simple-minded gardener whose impressions of the world are based almost entirely on what he has seen on television. The film, which is set in the 1970s,  is ultimately a commentary on various aspects of contemporary culture.

Here goes. This is the first blog entry for the students taking “African Americans in the City.” Sorta. Since we have not yet done any readings, I am posting “their” first entry, which contains some insightful replies to the following prompt: “When I saw ___________________it made me ____________________________.” These replies were composed in response to clips from  “Being There,” a film about a Chance aka Chauncey Gardner, a simple-minded, Washington D.C.-based, er, uh, gardener, who for the first time is forced to leave the house in which he has lived all of his life. He is a middle-aged white man in a postwar city in which African Americans, especially males, young and old, are not flourishing socially. But Chance/Chauncey approaches them all with seeming ease. He has nothing to fear. The only African American he has ever known is Louise, a maid in the house in which he lived, and she was very nice (“She brought me my meals.”). Beyond her and his now-dead benefactor (the “Old Man”), nearly everything he knows is based on what he has seen on television. I used this comedy, in which Peter Sellers stars, as a way to push the students to think about several things, among them, the degree to which we make assumptions based on what we think we know about so much, African Americans included. The students composed a five-minute written reflection. Here are excerpts from what the students wrote:

1.       “When I saw Chauncey [interact with the African American teenagers]….it made me think a message was being sent.”

2.       “When I saw Louise’s response to Chance [speaking on television as a political authority after meeting the President of the United States] (“It’s a white man’s world!” she said), it made me think [that's] a general statement often repeated.

3.       When I saw Chance walking down the street near the Washington Monument, it made me think of when I rode down that street over the summer. Being in D.C… [makes you] overwhelmed by all [of] the history you’re surrounded by.”

4.       When I saw Chauncey interact with the black doctor, it made me think that he saw some sort of connection…between small and large black males, as if …they inherently know each other.”

5.       When I saw Chance take his first steps outside of the only home he knew, it made me think of the times when stepping out of your comfort zone becomes necessary…He draws from what he learns from T.V. to function in the ‘real world.’ College [,] for me [,] was a similar experience.”

6.       When I saw the way Chauncey interacted with the world…it made me think about the way people assume things…based on their limited experiences – often failing to truly understand.”

7.       When I saw Chauncey[lying] on the table getting an X-ray, it made me think of the movie “I Am Sam”…when Sam had to prepare the birthday party for his daughter. Their facial expressions were the same.”

8.       When I saw “Chauncey Gardner/Chance’s” obsession with the television and gardening, it made me think of my great grandmother’s former neighbor, _______________. Whenever my sister or I would go next door, he would always give us a seed to plant. Whenever we would visit he would take us to water our seed [and] he always assured us that he would take care of our seeds while we were [away]….”

9.       When I saw Chance describe the different seasons, it made me think of how much I dislike the cold, rainy weather we have been getting for the past week.”