All Aboard 4

Chicago!

Like Bud Calloway & Bugs, we’re off to Chicago, Illinois… Hang on to your seats; we’re going back in time to visit the city during the Great Depression!

Chicago Now…

Click here for news updates and current weather conditions in Chicago, IL.

The Windy City

Check out these popular attractionsin modern-day Chicago.

Now, hop on, and hang on!

Click here to share the adventures of a real-life hobo from Flint, Michigan – Bud’s hometown! How are his adventures similar to or different from Bud’s experiences?

Chicago Then…

The City of Labor Strikes

Visit this link to learn more about Chicago’s history of violent labor strikes and workers’ clashes with police and military forces. What surprised you most, reading about these “battles?”

GM auto workers strike, 1937

(Flint, Michigan)

…Becomes Unionized.

Follow the link below to find which major Chicago industry was successfully unionized by the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the mid-1930s.

Here’s a hint:Songs of Laborers

But Chicago takes a step BACKWARDS in race relations…

Let’s visit the experts!What 3 reasons do sociologists give for a larger number of African American residents than White residents of Chicago being unemployed during the Depression?

Share of Jobs by Race: Chicago, 1930Jobs: Profess-

ionalBusi-ness

Clerical Skilled Semi-skilled

Un-skilled

Servant

White 96% 98% 98% 97% 91% 79% 66%

Black4% 2% 2% 3% 9% 21% 34%

Racist practices caused workers of minority status to be hardest hit by the Great Depression.

(Source: “Black Metropolis: The 'Job Ceiling' in 1930s and 1940s Chicago “ by Horace Cayton and St. Clair Drake.)

Until Racism Gave Way to Renewal.

The “Black Belt” (south side of Chicago) was home for many workers moving to the city from rural areas.

Instead of remaining oppressed, however, this area became the seat of the Chicago Black Renaissance!

All right, students. We are going to break for lunch and explore this historic neighborhood. Everyone pick a partner, and each group choose 2 locations from the “Near South, South & Southwest” section of your map.- - - - - - -On the ride home, each group will share one detail from each location that demonstrated a struggle or a success from the Great Depression.