Invisible Houston: The Black Experience in Boom and Bust (Volume 6) (Texas A&M Southwestern Studies) - Softcover

Bullard, Robert D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0890963576 ISBN 13: 9780890963579

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press, 2000

Synopsis

Houston was Boomtown USA in the 1970s, growing through tremendous immigration of people and through frequent annexation of outlying areas. But in the shadow of the high-rise "petropolis" was another city ignored by and invisible to Houston municipal boosters and the national media. Black Houston, the largest black community in the South, remained largely untouched by the benefits of the boom but bore many of the burdens.

Robert D. Bullard systematically explores major demographic, social, economic, and political factors that helped make Houston the "golden buckle" of the Sunbelt. He then chronicles the rise of Houston's black neighborhoods and analyzes the problems that have accrued to the black community over the years, concentrating on the boom era of the 1970s and the dwindling of the economy and of government commitment to affirmative action in the late 1980s. Case studies conducted in Houston's Third Ward--a microcosm of the larger black community--provide data on housing patterns, discrimination, pollution, law enforcement, and leadership, issues that the author discusses and relates to the larger ones of institutional racism, poverty, and politics.

During Houston's rapid growth, freeways were built over black neighborhoods and municipal services were stretched away from the inner city and poverty pockets to the new, far-flung, and mostly white city limits. Businesses thrived, but many jobs called for advanced education and skills, while black youth still suffered from inadequate schools, inexperienced teachers, and, later, unemployment rates nearly double those of whites. When the oil-based economy collapsed in the early eighties, many blacks again bore a heavier share of the burdens.

Invisible Houston describes the rich cultural history of the South's largest black community and analyzes the contemporary issues that offer the chance for black Houston to become visible to itself, to the larger community, and to the nation.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert D. Bullard is associate professor of sociology at Texas Southern University in Houston.

From Library Journal:

Bullard, an urban sociologist at Texas Southern University, presents a clear overview of the institutionalized racist policies affecting blacks in Houston from the 1866 to the present. Recent "boom and bust" economic conditions have intensified long-standing inequities in conditions and opportunities for Houston's blacks (as throughout the South) in housing, employment, education, business, politics, etc. Bullard exposes the "dark" side of the picture, but also highlights the richness of Houston's black culture and the accomplishments of many individuals and urges the arousal within the black community of a strong, independent group to press actively for improvement. Recommended for academics, professionals, and general readers. Suzanne W. Wood, SUNY Agricultural & Technical Coll. Lib., Alfred
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0890963576
• ISBN 13: 9780890963579
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176