As part of my background reading for our class project on the construction of I-496 through Lansing, I read the book Breakthroughs: Re-Creating the American City by Neal Peirce and Robert Guskind. Breakthroughs focuses on 6 urban cities which were all rebuilt by their community members who took matters into their own hands to save their neighborhoods. These cities include New York, Portland, Boston, Lincoln, Cabrillo Village and Vermont's Stowe Recreation Path. These are all stories of the uncommon turnarounds urban communities can acheieve when faced with government decisions that destroy urban communities.
The introduction of the book discusses the importance of communities to work together and for local governments to give the people a chance to voice what they want. The introduction discusses as quite length why urban cities are thought of the way they are and why some neighborhoods are avoided. They discuss the drugs, murders, muggings, gangs and other frightful aspects of "city living" that draws people away from the city. Quite frankly, this was scary and made me afraid to want to go into an urban city. They discussed how even though parts of big cities are tourist attractions with upscale shopping centers and beautiful parks, they are still very dangerous. While it is important not to ignore the reasons people avoid big cities, this part of the introduction did not do too much to make me want to go to a big city.
The proceeding chapters of the book discussed each case study at length, describing the community's involvement to stop the deterioration of the neighborhoods and to rebuild them. In every story the community is very actively involved and the book highlights specific community member's stories and gives the emotions that were in play at the time. I felt that by the end of the book you really got to know each of the community member's stories.
While the community was highlighted and you got to know the people involved and what they did and how their individual story fit into the larger story of the rebuilding of the city, it is always important to ask what is left out? What isn't being talked about? I felt the book did little to look at the side of government or the city leaders and tell any of that side of the story. I would have been interested to find out why these neighborhoods in these cities were either chosen to be abandoned, as in the case of the New York neighborhoods, or why the highway was chosen to go through certain neighborhoods, as in the case of Lincoln and Boston.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Why was the construction of I-496 controversial?
The construction of the highway I-496 set forth a controversy in the city of Lansing. The highway cut through the cities largest black community destroying the houses and business in its path. The fact that a close knit community was being leveled could make anyone upset. Their histories and childhoods are being demolished and they are left nowhere to go back to. I feel the time period and housing circumstances during this period caused more controversy. This was all occurring in the 1960’s when segregation was still highly present whether talked about or not.
I found it interesting to read about why this neighborhood was chosen. After reading Matt Miller’s article in the Lansing State Journal titled "Looking back: I-496 Construction: A Complicated Legacy", I read that the construction of new roads often occurred down “the paths of least resistance” where the community could not fight for their homes. The community did fight for better housing circumstances and relocation assistance although these efforts were not always successful.
What was most unsettling to me was that this community was losing their homes and businesses and had great trouble relocating due to the segregation. The black community could not move anywhere they wanted, whether they did not have the money or would not be sold houses in certain neighborhoods.
Some overall questions that arose while I was reading and thinking about the situation were:
- It was difficult for the black community find new housing, if the construction of the highway was occurring today would the same controversy exist?
- The leaders of the city proposed that the destruction of this community would help with the integration of the rest of city. Was this really the case?
- What did the city leaders think about the construction of the highway? Did they see any downfalls or negatives?
- What other factors go into deciding where a highway in constructed?
- What implications did this have for the people who could not find housing? Did they move elsewhere?
- What implications did this have on businesses that were demolished? Were they able to start the business up elsewhere or were they forced to seek new employment?
- The highway cut through the largest black community in Lansing, what did this mean for the white community? Were they affected at all and why not if they were not affected?
- Does this situation tell us anything about the relationship between the black community and white community at this time?
I found it interesting to read about why this neighborhood was chosen. After reading Matt Miller’s article in the Lansing State Journal titled "Looking back: I-496 Construction: A Complicated Legacy", I read that the construction of new roads often occurred down “the paths of least resistance” where the community could not fight for their homes. The community did fight for better housing circumstances and relocation assistance although these efforts were not always successful.
What was most unsettling to me was that this community was losing their homes and businesses and had great trouble relocating due to the segregation. The black community could not move anywhere they wanted, whether they did not have the money or would not be sold houses in certain neighborhoods.
Some overall questions that arose while I was reading and thinking about the situation were:
- It was difficult for the black community find new housing, if the construction of the highway was occurring today would the same controversy exist?
- The leaders of the city proposed that the destruction of this community would help with the integration of the rest of city. Was this really the case?
- What did the city leaders think about the construction of the highway? Did they see any downfalls or negatives?
- What other factors go into deciding where a highway in constructed?
- What implications did this have for the people who could not find housing? Did they move elsewhere?
- What implications did this have on businesses that were demolished? Were they able to start the business up elsewhere or were they forced to seek new employment?
- The highway cut through the largest black community in Lansing, what did this mean for the white community? Were they affected at all and why not if they were not affected?
- Does this situation tell us anything about the relationship between the black community and white community at this time?
East Lansing Historical Site Visit
I visited another historical site but in East Lansing this time instead of near my hometown. I decided to choose a historical site more fitting to my character and interests and therefore I chose to visit Central School in East Lansing. Being a resident of East Lansing for the past 4 years I have passed by this building many times. I knew it was an old building that is most likely currently used for children based on the grounds surrounding the building.
Central School was built in 1917 and is recognized as the oldest schoolhouse in East Lansing and is also one of the oldest public, off-campus buildings in the city. Central School served as an elementary school while also being used as part of the teacher training program at MSU. Due to an increase in population the school was closed as an elementary schoool in 1984.
While the building is being preserved for its historical significance of its use and architecture, it is still being used today as a nursery school which is managed by MSU. I am not sure if I would take a class to visit or not. It could be interesting if you were talking about the time period and could point on the similarities and differences in schoolhouses between then and now. It may be interesting to the students to imagine living back when this was an elementary school and connecting the past with the present.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Examining State Curriculum Standards
I chose to read through Illinois' State Curriculum Standards for History. Illinois seperates their standards into general "Learning Standards" and more specific "State Goals for History". Learning standards include things such as identifying and solving problems, sharing ideas, working with groups, using technology and making connections. I feel these are very broad standards that are things meant to be accomplished on a day to day basis. When it comes to the state's "Learning Standards", History is grouped in with the Social Sciences. The Social Sciences include anthropology, economics, geography, history, law, political science and sociology. It is directly mentioned that all of the social sciences are connected and that students need to realize how they relate to each other in order. However, Illinois does treat History as a seperate subject which has its own goals to meet.
Illinois breaks down their standards by grade bracket instead of individual grade. They specifiy standards for Early Elementary, Late Elementary, Middle/Junior High School, Early High School and Late High School. The general trend seems to be pretty well lined up with Indiana and a few other states where the early elementary grades focus on the local community, holidays, traditions and general ideas of time (past, present and future). Once the students reach late elemetnary school is when they start learning about specific events and U.S. and World history. The goals for each grade bracket are very specific about what time periods, events and topics should be discussed. For example in Middle/Junior High School students should be able to describe how the people of the Huang He, Trigris-Euphrates, Nile and Indus river valleys shaped their environments during the agricultural revolution, 4000-1000, B.C. There are four sections of specific content goals for each grade bracket and each section has multiple goals for U.S. and World History.
The state standards do include a section on goals for developing historical thinking skills. The first section of History Goals is titled "Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpration" and in this set of goals students are expected to ask historical questions, compare stories of events, read stories and analyze and compare different historical interprations of an event. By late high school students are expected to "analyze historical and contemporary developments using methods of historical inquiry (pose questions, collect and analyze data, make and support inferences with evidence, report findings)" I would say that Illinois definitly encourages historical thinking in their students.
One last thing I thought about while reading Tyrrell's "Historians In Public" was the emphasis on American history over other types of history in schools. Tyrrell discusses the push for more American history in schools because of American's apparent lack of knowledge over their country. While reading the book I began to think of my history classes throughout high school and I would say this alligns right up with my high school experience. I remember talking a lot about U.S. history and not much about the rest of the world. As I read through the chapters on schools I began to get confused because the chapter was describing how little Americans know about U.S. history and how a lot of people are upset and U.S. history should be taught all throughout schooling but then at the end of the chapter they begin to bring in the argument that students do not know anything about the world and are becoming isolated from the rest of the world. So what is more important and is it important that History maintain a subject all its own? Illinois seems to have equal content goals for U.S. and World History. They also seem to feel that History is important enough to be its own subject. In the standards they discuss how important it is for a student to be able to examine and analyze past events in order to understand the events of today. They also discuss how learning history will help students to "define their own roles as particiapating citizens." History has definitly maintained an important status in the state of Illinois.
Illinois breaks down their standards by grade bracket instead of individual grade. They specifiy standards for Early Elementary, Late Elementary, Middle/Junior High School, Early High School and Late High School. The general trend seems to be pretty well lined up with Indiana and a few other states where the early elementary grades focus on the local community, holidays, traditions and general ideas of time (past, present and future). Once the students reach late elemetnary school is when they start learning about specific events and U.S. and World history. The goals for each grade bracket are very specific about what time periods, events and topics should be discussed. For example in Middle/Junior High School students should be able to describe how the people of the Huang He, Trigris-Euphrates, Nile and Indus river valleys shaped their environments during the agricultural revolution, 4000-1000, B.C. There are four sections of specific content goals for each grade bracket and each section has multiple goals for U.S. and World History.
The state standards do include a section on goals for developing historical thinking skills. The first section of History Goals is titled "Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpration" and in this set of goals students are expected to ask historical questions, compare stories of events, read stories and analyze and compare different historical interprations of an event. By late high school students are expected to "analyze historical and contemporary developments using methods of historical inquiry (pose questions, collect and analyze data, make and support inferences with evidence, report findings)" I would say that Illinois definitly encourages historical thinking in their students.
One last thing I thought about while reading Tyrrell's "Historians In Public" was the emphasis on American history over other types of history in schools. Tyrrell discusses the push for more American history in schools because of American's apparent lack of knowledge over their country. While reading the book I began to think of my history classes throughout high school and I would say this alligns right up with my high school experience. I remember talking a lot about U.S. history and not much about the rest of the world. As I read through the chapters on schools I began to get confused because the chapter was describing how little Americans know about U.S. history and how a lot of people are upset and U.S. history should be taught all throughout schooling but then at the end of the chapter they begin to bring in the argument that students do not know anything about the world and are becoming isolated from the rest of the world. So what is more important and is it important that History maintain a subject all its own? Illinois seems to have equal content goals for U.S. and World History. They also seem to feel that History is important enough to be its own subject. In the standards they discuss how important it is for a student to be able to examine and analyze past events in order to understand the events of today. They also discuss how learning history will help students to "define their own roles as particiapating citizens." History has definitly maintained an important status in the state of Illinois.
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