African American Studies Commons^™

Role Models And Mentors For Blacks At Predominantly White Campuses, Clarence G. Williams

Trotter Review

Educators must begin to revisit the topic of mentoring and role models in higher education, especially as it relates to blacks at predominantly white college campuses. There are two major facets of this topic; namely, the existence of role models and mentors for young black administrators, faculty members, and students at predominantly white campuses; and, the objectives and goals of providing role models and mentors for these individuals.

Introduction, James Jennings

Trotter Review

This issue of the Trotter Review focuses on a broad range of questions and issues concerning the economic development of the urban black community. This subject is timely and important given the continuing crisis surrounding the social and economic development of black communities in urban America. Poverty, poor health, unemployment, inadequate housing, and other related concerns, will continue to plague black communities to a greater extent than other communities until effective and comprehensive economic development strategies can be developed and pursued.

This issue of the Trotter Review challenges the notion suggested by some that the pursuit of economic development strategies …

Theoretical Explanations Of Persistent Black Youth Unemployment, Rhonda M. Williams

Trotter Review

This essay reviews and briefly summarizes three theoretical models used most often to explain two decades of persistently high unemployment among black youth and declining rates of male labor-force participation: neoclassical, Keynesian/neo-Keynesian, and radical perspectives. Based on a review of these models, it offers an alternative approach to explaining and analyzing black youth unemployment.

The African-American Urban Milieu And Economic Development, Lenneal J. Henderson

Trotter Review

Economic disparity between urban white America and urban black America is becoming more pronounced, whether in central cities, suburbs, or edge cities. African-American employment prospects have declined in central cities, increased slightly in suburbs, and increased substantially for the few African Americans living and working in edge cities. William Julius Wilson cites the decline in stable, higher-paying, blue-collar employment in the industrial cities throughout America. Others identify the changing structure of metropolitan employment as characterized by more rapid professional and white-collar employment growth in suburbs and edge cities and declining employment in central cities. In his book, Cities Without Suburbs …

Race, Economic Development, And The Role Of Transportation And Training, Joan Wallace-Benjamin

Trotter Review

As Massachusetts confronts its economic future and develops strategic plans for seizing competitive advantages, accessibility promised by proposed development plans for the transportation infrastructure must not only provide commuters with the means to get to work, but also increase the opportunity for participation in the economy for all citizens of the region. Changes in the transportation infrastructure will not ensure accessibility unless workers receive adequate training for the new types of jobs being offered. According to a recent report issued by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, authored by William P. O'Hare, "Black people who live in urbanized …

Revisiting The Question Of Reparations, James Jennings

Trotter Review

Recent congressional action to award Japanese Americans "reparations" for their internment during World War II, as well as the Florida state legislature's act to award $150,000 to black survivors of a white riot rampage of Rosewood, a black town, in 1923, has contributed to a re-emergence of the call for black reparations. Several black state and local politicians and leaders across the United States have called for legislative action that would compensate blacks for three and one half centuries of racial enslavement. The awarding of reparations to Japanese Americans is not the only precedent for indemnity to a group of …

The Role Of Black Political Leadership In Economic Development, Curtis Stokes

Trotter Review

One of the most striking things about the United States is the degree to which racial inequality remains a pervasive fact of life. Indeed, since the end of the 1960s the black-white gap in life chances (for example, jobs and income) has worsened for large segments of the black community. To persistently face high unemployment and declining income is especially troublesome in a capitalist economy like that in the United States, where goods and services are rationed by a harsh market and where there is, at best, a very modest social safety net. The United Nation's Human Development Report 1993, …

The African-American Business Tradition In Boston, Robert C. Hayden

Trotter Review

African Americans in Boston have been exhibiting their interest and talents in business for a long time. Those in business today are continuing a tradition that goes back to the African culture of preslavery days. Enslaved Africans who were brought to America came from a business tradition, from a culture of great traders, merchants, and craftsmen. Many enslaved blacks, in fact, purchased their freedom by marketing their skilled services and handmade products.

"Economic Development" Is Not "Community" Development: Lessons For A Mayor, Eugene "Gus" Newport

Trotter Review

Economic development is one of the most important elements of an effective community development plan. Economic development can mean jobs for the community, as well as the development of new businesses and the enhancement of a city's tax base, which provides the funds to operate the government. I had campaigned on the need for responsible alternative economic development. But, one of the first things I learned is that community development often gets misinterpreted as economic development. That is an unfortunate mistake, since the term community development has a much broader meaning, both conceptually and practically. Community development means development of …