This class will examine the economic, social, and political roots of
gangs in Chicago from the 19th century to the present day. It will look
at
immigrant gangs of the industrial era; the signficance of the 1919 race
riot and formation of the ghetto on African American and white Social
Athletic Clubs; the influence of the political machine and the built
environment on gangs and the ghetto; the politicization of 1960s Latino,
Black, and white gangs and the impact of their subsequent
incarceration; the impact of crack and the underground economy on
gangs; and the reorganization of Black and Hispanic street
organizations in the present period.
The class is a graduate/undergraduate class and
will require a
research paper on some aspect of the history of gangs in Chicago.
Several invited speakers will add depth to various topics. Readings
will
be from history, sociology, planning, and literature. Students from
all
disciplines are welcome.
Instructor John Hagedorn
Required Texts:
Thrasher: The Gang
Hirsch: The Making of the
Second Ghetto
Venkatesh: American Project
Padilla: Outside the Wall: A Puerto Rican Woman's Struggle
One Novel on Chicago: e.g. Studs Lonigan, Native Son, The Jungle.
Material on
Gang Research On Line (http://www.uic.edu/orgs/kbc) includes:
Race
Relations Commission Report on 1919 Race Riot. Chapter one (GROL)
Timuel Black on the History
of African American Gangs (GROL)
Jim Short on
Chicago gang research (GROL)
Chicago gang documents, photos, and
articles (GROL)
Books on Reserve (selections to be used as appropriate)
Spear: Black Chicago
Cayton & Drake: Black Metropolis
Wirth: The Ghetto
Spergel: Youth Manpower: What happened in Woodlawn
Suttles: Social Order of the Slum
Landesco: Organized Crime in Chicago
Philpott: The Slum and the Ghetto
Perkins: Upsurge in Chicago Street Gangs
Horowitz: Honor and the American Dream
Tuttle: Riot
Cohen and Taylor: American Pharaoh
Fry: Locked Out Americans
Dawley: A Nation of Lords
Keiser: Warriors of the Street
Wilson: The Truly Disadvantaged
Cintron: Angel's Town
Jacobs: Stateville
Kobler: Capone
Olivero: Honor, violence, and Upward Mobility
Addams: Twenty Years at Hull House
Padilla: The Gang as an American Enterprise
Padilla: Puerto Rican Chicago
Short & Strodtbeck: Group Process and Gang Delinquency
Nelli: The Business of Crime
Reckless: Vice in Chicago
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