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Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, And The Exploitation Of Black Urban America (2009)

by Beryl Satter(Favorite Author)

4.25 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

080507676X (ISBN13: 9780805076769)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Metropolitan Books

review 1: This is an indispensable book for those of us who were educated in a "culture of poverty" story about the economic shortcomings of the civil rights movement and the decay of inner cities. Contrary to that standard narrative (which is propagated in both liberal and conservative versions), Satter tells a story of the large-scale defrauding of millions and millions of dollars in wealth, and the degradation of thousands upon thousands of homes, through a combination of a segregated housing market, federal mortgage policies, and land-contract sales. It's an outrageous story--both the theft itself and the historical misrepresentation that ended up blaming exploited communities for the consequences of their own exploitation--and Satter tells it with vivid characterization, powerf... moreul data, and a good feel for the development of smaller stories within it. It's also about her father, a West-side landlord and radical lawyer, and her family's own complicated relationship with the racial transformation of Chicago's Lawndale neighborhood. This book is critical and everyone should read it.
review 2: A good account of the creation of the black ghettos in Chicago during the mid 20th century and the efforts of many to achieve fair housing laws. I learned so much from this book; I had never heard of contract buying and knew only a little about redlining. The lessons I gathered from this book: access to credit without usurious interest is instrumental in establishing middle class neighborhoods and people need to be empowered to change their own situations (outsiders can't come in and make reforms, the people living there have to do it). I was especially interested in the accounts of progressive Catholics like Jack Egan to create change and the resistance of white ethnic middle class Catholics to integrating neighborhoods. I also liked the discussion of Martin Luther King Jr. and his brief Chicago campaign (and the reasons why it was not effective)and the divisions within the Jewish community over contract selling (most of the contract sellers were Jewish and the contract buyers were African American). While the book was very detailed about the court cases and the different community organizations, I would have appreciated more detail about the different neighborhoods. Satter discusses Lawndale but she lumps all of the Southside together. I also would be interested to read more about the white residents who fled integrating neighborhoods for the suburbs. I would recommend this book to readers interested in Chicago history and the African American experience. Be warned, the writing flows smoothly but the content is very detailed and discusses social science and legal issues in depth. less

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