Preview
  • Moving Up, Moving Out

  • The Rise of the Black Middle Class in Chicago
  • By: Will Cooley
  • Narrated by: Andrew L. Barnes
  • Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (6 ratings)

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Moving Up, Moving Out

By: Will Cooley
Narrated by: Andrew L. Barnes
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Publisher's summary

In Moving Up, Moving Out, Will Cooley discusses the damage racism and discrimination have exacted on black Chicagoans in the 20th century, while accentuating the resilience of upwardly mobile African Americans.

Cooley examines how class differences created fissures in the black community and produced quandaries for black Chicagoans interested in racial welfare. While black Chicagoans engaged in collective struggles, they also used individualistic means to secure the American Dream. Black Chicagoans demonstrated their talent and ambitions, but they entered through the narrow gate, and whites denied them equal opportunities in the educational institutions, workplaces, and neighborhoods that produced the middle class.

African Americans resisted these restrictions at nearly every turn by moving up into better careers and moving out into higher-quality neighborhoods, but their continued marginalization helped create a deeply dysfunctional city. African Americans settled in Chicago for decades, inspired by the gains their forerunners were making in the city.

Though faith in Chicago as a land of promise wavered, the progress of the black middle class kept the city from completely falling apart. In this important study, Cooley shows how Chicago, in all of its glory and faults, was held together by black dreams of advancement.

Moving Up, Moving Out will appeal to urban historians and sociologists, scholars of African American studies, and general listeners interested in Chicago and urban history.

The book is published by Northern Illinois University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

Praise for the book:

“A well-researched and intriguing book… brings to light fascinating material.” (Todd M. Michney, author of Surrogate Suburbs)

“Presents a complex historical and contemporary phenomenon in a clear, accessible manner.” (Robert E. Weems Jr., coeditor of Building the Black Metropolis)

©2018 Northern Illinois University Press (P)2020 Redwood Audiobooks
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
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What listeners say about Moving Up, Moving Out

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A piece of social history

First my disclosure I'm a white European - so I admit to not understanding American racial history. Secondly I received a free copy of this audio book at my request and voluntarily leave this honest review..
So I started this book with an open and interested mind.
It is an amazing social history, well researched and portrays life in Chicago and how little it has improved in the last 100 years. except for the lucky few.
A very interesting audio book.

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Moving up

This was an excellent book.I had no knowledge of Chicagos history.It was so interesting. Andrew L Barnes was the perfect narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'

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