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The first ever comprehensive history of this troubled city, the book includes more than 250 photographs amd images of the people and events that shaped East St. Louis. Andrew Theising, a professor of political science at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, examines the city's past from the prominent role it played in the growth of 19th century industrial America to its presently depleted state. For Theising, East St. Louis is more than just a river city suburb; it is an example of industry creating and then abandoning a city, and it is also one of the most misunderstood cities in America.
Urban poverty, along with all of its poignant manifestations, is moving from city centers to working-class and industrial suburbs in contemporary America. Nowhere is this more evident than in East St. Louis, Illinois. Once a thriving manufacturing and transportation center, East St. Louis is now known for its unemployment, crime, and collapsing infrastructure. Abandoned in the Heartland takes us into the lives of East St. Louis’s predominantly African American residents to find out what has happened since industry abandoned the city, and jobs, quality schools, and city services disappeared, leaving people isolated and imperiled. Jennifer Hamer introduces men who search for meaning and opportunity in dead-end jobs, women who often take on caretaking responsibilities until well into old age, and parents who have the impossible task of protecting their children in this dangerous, and literally toxic, environment. Illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs showing how the city has changed over time, this book, full of stories of courage and fortitude, offers a powerful vision of the transformed circumstances of life in one American suburb.
Documents the deadly racial confrontation in 1917 East St. Louis between white and black citizens, describing the Jim Crow limits that prompted the move of half a million job-seeking African-Americans to northern industrial cities and the resulting backlash that took the form of deadly race riots, union disputes, and political corruption. 30,000 first printing.
Depicts the early history of East St. Louis, which was officially established in 1861.
Studebaker was in the vehicle business for 114 years and has a fascinating history that has been told numerous times by a variety of authors. This book does not retell the grand sweep of the company's history, but instead it fills in the corners, illuminating Studebaker's history with anecdotes, stories and interesting details that other authors either missed or omitted. For instance, it includes biographies of twenty-seven other companies that Studebaker and the Studebaker family were involved in. It extensively traces the growth and development of Studebaker in New York City, probably the company's most important market. It tells the story of a dog fancier. It covers more than fifteen stories of crimes committed with or involving Studebaker cars. And it includes much more, all related to the years between 1852 and 1930, the company's early years.
Frontier Democracy examines the debates over state constitutions in the antebellum Northwest (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) from the 1820s through the 1850s. This is a book about conversations: in particular, the fights and negotiations over the core ideals in the constitutions that brought these frontier communities to life. Silvana R. Siddali argues that the Northwestern debates over representation and citizenship reveal two profound commitments: the first to fair deliberation, and the second to ethical principles based on republicanism, Christianity, and science. Some of these ideas succeeded brilliantly: within forty years, the region became an economic and demographic success story. However, some failed tragically: racial hatred prevailed everywhere in the region, in spite of reformers' passionate arguments for justice, and resulted in disfranchisement and even exclusion for non-white Northwesterners that lasted for generations.
Florissant, Missouri, is an old city with a distinguished history. Like many other places, it is part of slavery's legacy. This book examines slavery in and around Florissant and explores the history of the African American experience in North St. Louis County.
On July 2 and 3, 1917, race riots rocked the small industrial city of East St. Louis, Illinois. American Pogrom takes the reader beyond that pivotal time in the city's history to explore black people's activism from the antebellum era to the eve of the post-World War II civil rights movement. Charles Lumpkins shows that black residents of East St. Louis had engaged in formal politics since the 1870s, exerting influence through the ballot and through patronage in a city dominated by powerful real estate interests even as many African Americans elsewhere experienced setbacks in exercising their political and economic rights. While Lumpkins asserts that the race riots were a pogrom--an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group--orchestrated by certain businessmen intent on preventing black residents from attaining political power and on turning the city into a "sundown" town permanently cleared of African Americans, he also demonstrates how the African American community survived. He situates the activities of the black citizens of East St. Louis in the context of the larger story of the African American quest for freedom, citizenship, and equality.
Outlines the social, economic, and cultural forces which affect the quality of life in the greater St. Louis area. This book examines the tides and trends that make St. Louis one of the nation's dynamic urban areas.
He wasn't from St. Louis, but St. Louis changed his life. Most of his greatest experiences stemmed from the St. Louisans he married and befriended: the expatriate years in Paris, the house in Key West, his first African safari, fishing expeditions in the Gulf Stream, his Cuban estate, and so much more. His life was a raucous, creative, adventurous, and sometimes vicious series of events. Here are the five Saint Louis families that shaped the life that shaped the stories.