What Happened to the South Side?
with Coleman Hughes
When Coleman Hughes was growing up twenty years ago or so, he thought of the “South Side of Chicago” as shorthand for all the problems of troubled urban black communities. He had reason to think that. For, in the media and in reality, it had become a paragon of decline. Things were different when I was coming along there in the 1950s and ‘60s. There were rough patches, to be sure. But there were also plenty of safe, beautiful, black neighborhoods like the one I grew up in, Park Manor. So Coleman wanted to know: what happened? How did the South Side of Chicago and other places like it deteriorate into what they’ve become? In this clip from his show, Conversations with Coleman, we try to answer the question.
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I attended the Illinois Institute of Technolgy on Chicago's South Side from 1965 to 1967. That's approximately the same time that Glenn was there. I THOUGHT you looked familiar, Glenn!
For all intents, I was just a kid and didn't know much. I grew up in the white suburbs of Boston, so I had some adjusting to do. Not surprising, but my experience is similar to Glenn's. There were nice neighborhoods, and not so nice.
I've always been into Victorian architecture. Something that has stayed with me is that entire neighborhoods in the South Side were being abandoned. There were grand old Victorian mansions that had been abandoned, presumably as a result of white flight. I'd go to Goodwill and salivate over beautiful antique furniture that was selling for close to nothing, but I couldn't buy it; I lived in a dorm.
We are currently living in LBJ's Great Society. This is it. This is not what was promised, but this is it. I give far more credit to MLK than LBJ. We are still feeling the positive effects of MLK, and we are still feeling the negative effects of LBJ.
Sorry to be off topic, but I just listened to "Getting real about Israel" on YT. I never believed you'd concoct such an oxymoronic word salad. I'll pass on the dressing. https://youtu.be/otppOfeyk34?si=outxyjbxyJYRkOnO