The event was about the emerging Oak Park African-American community between 1880-1980. Stan West, who is the author of "Suburban Promise Land: The Emerging Black Community in Oak Park, Illinois, 1880-1980", talked about the rich history of Blacks and biracials in suburbia, many of whom migrated from the South and immigrated from Canada in an act of "faith."
I picked this event because, all of the events I was attending in the month of February focused on African-American history. So I continued to follow events along that curriculum that focused on the history of the African-American culture. I was surprised how the author really dug deep to find out information that any other person couldn't possibly get their hands on. He was very informative and spoke with conviction. Other things that stood out was the audience and time it took to finish the book. It was a very personal one-on-one book discussion. So there was a lot of involvement from the audience. The time it took was about a decade. What stood out to me as memorable was the amount of information he knew and his sense of humor. One of the things that really stood out was a newspaper clipping that he showed which he placed in his book, had a article about the KKK, recruiting any prospect in a daily and widely known and published publication. The thing that stood out to the particular bunch of KKK members in Oak Park was they were not targeting so much African-Americans but were focusing on Jewish people and people of the Catholic faith and religion. I could relate from the standpoint of moving to another area for a better opportunity. I could also relate to their stuggle to want to achieve and make something better out of life. I couldn't relate to the amount of discrimination going on in that time period.
I think the creators or curators had these questions in mind: What role do the media play in the way we make decisions about belief? Do they relay what is fact?
- Why do we believe as we do? What experiences have shaped our beliefs? How do we respond when our beliefs are challenged?
What shapes ethics and morality?
How do our beliefs and discoveries transform our relationship to people, places, society, the planet?
I believe what help me curve my conclusion was the information that was given in the book and what the book was about. This topic relates to the topic of "Why do we believe in race"?. This book and event unarguably relates to what we've discuss in the class. With brief excerpts from books such as "No mans land", "I'm Down", and the scientific article about race.
Would more time I would consider exploring and diving deeper to find out more about this topic and sub-topics that relate to this event and book.
The author actually gaves us links from youtube, on a documentary that he worked on called the "Achievement Gap". This is some of his other work.
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