The Projects

Fall 2008 Projects and Researchers

Summer Hill
Researcher: Nicole Woolsey (HIST4400)
HIST4400 for Major Area IV, sponsored by CETL
“Disparity as a Matter of Course: The Mismanagement of Summer Hill School, 1889-1968,” presented at Georgia Association of Historians, Annual Meeting, February 2009.

The employment of a white male superintendent to preside over both the white schools and the "colored" Summer Hill school(s) in Bartow County contributed to over sixty years of mismanagement and neglect of Summer Hill schools in Cartersville, Georgia. However, this paper does not suggest that the institution was unsuccessful in the African American community; many of the students of Summer Hill School went on to college and beyond. However, the limitations of this vocational education, visible as early as 1889, were evident in the board's regular neglect of school facilities, frequent refusal to finance or agree upon school expansions and additions, and inadequate salaries for the black teachers. Drawing from periodic newspapers and school board minutes, this paper examines the social disparities present at Summer Hill School in the framework of the larger community of Cartersville, and how the school serves as an illustration of larger Southern educational patterns.

Housing in Black and White
Researcher: Sarah King (HIST4400)
HIST4400 for Major Area IV, sponsored by CETL
“Housing in Black and White,” presented at Georgia Association of Historians, Annual Meeting, February 2009.

This paper explores subdivision and home building among Atlanta’s black community and the forces behind the white housing developments promoted by “Own Your Home” campaigns between the two World Wars. Using historical newspaper accounts, advertisements by real estate agencies, “Own Your Home” campaign materials, and maps of new neighborhoods, the paper investigates the rising popularity of housing developments as well as the similarities and differences between black and white subdivision building prior to federal intervention in the home mortgage market. Also examined are the ways of marketing homes to families and the influence of important figures and groups such as the Committee on Negro Housing.

Housing/Community Movements
Researcher: Christopher Smith
“Speaking for the People: Neighborhood Resistance to Urban Renewal in Atlanta,” presented at Georgia Association of Historians, Annual Meeting, February 2009.

Throughout the last half of the twentieth century, Atlanta, in its race to become a legitimate urban center, sought the trappings of older, larger cities, including mass transit, convention space, and major sports franchises. This created conflicts over the use of land, particularly where low-income residences would be displaced.

This paper examines the events surrounding the location of the Georgia Dome stadium in the quiet Vine City neighborhood in the late 1980s. Using newspaper accounts and the records of neighborhood groups, the issues and interests that arose as the siting was debated are examined, as well as the primary actors in the controversy and their comparative positions of power and perspective. The paper will show that, more than external activism and organized groups, the consistent sources and modes of representation of the residents’ interests came from within the community.

Housing/Community Movements
Researcher: Jennifer Dortch
HIST4400 for Major HIST4499, sponsored by CETL
“Neighborhood Resistance to the Georgia Dome,” presented at Georgia Association of Historians, Annual Meeting, February 2009.

This paper examines the controversy of the Georgia Dome from the stadium’s proposal in 1986 to the beginning of its construction in 1989. Local politicians and business leaders justified locating the new stadium in Vine City and the Lightning neighborhoods by pointing to the area’s poverty and high crime rates. Using their rich heritage and historic buildings to argue in support of their neighborhoods, community leaders rose quickly to defend Vine City and Lightning against the threat to their homes, businesses and churches. Although much of the area was razed and the Dome ultimately built, the events both provide insight into historical patterns of resistance to urban redevelopment in the 1980s, and reveal that – despite politicians and business leaders’ characterizations – Vine City and Lightening had been vital, viable communities.

Housing Movements (Fair Housing/Open Housing)
Archival research review
Researcher: Jessica Killcreas, sponsored by the Burruss Institute

Summer 2008 Projects and Researchers

Housing Movements (Fair Housing/Open Housing)
Researcher: Tyler Crafton, sponsored by the Burruss Institute and CETL
Secondary literature review

Housing Movements (Fair Housing/Open Housing)
Archival research review
Researcher: Jessica Killcreas, sponsored by the Burruss Institute

Visual Cues and Shopping for Home
Coding and analysis
Researcher: Jessica Killcreas, sponsored by the Burruss Institute


Spring 2008 Projects and Researchers

Housing Landscapes and Metro Atlanta
Researcher: Patrick Kennedy
HIST4400 (3 credits)

This segment utilized inquiry based methods to explore housing production, performances, and landscapes in the “age of white flight” (i.e., about 1965 to 1990).

Patrick focused on (1) developing an instrument and implementing a study of how people read visual cues in shopping for neighborhoods (primarily) in the Atlanta suburbs; (2) developing an instrument and implementing a study of people who experienced racial and ethnic change in Cobb County since 1960; (3) synthesizing and analyzing the initial findings from the above (we will work with Jessica to identify major themes and concepts); and (4) analyzing how the findings fit within or challenged what Jessica has found from her secondary literature review on housing landscapes and performances.

Housing Landscapes and Metro Atlanta
Researcher: Jessica Killcreas
HIST4400 (3 credits)

This segment was particularly concerned with the intersections of housing production, performances, and landscapes in the “age of white flight,” but our initial investigation reached back to 1945.

Jessica focused on (1A) completing a secondary literature review (in annotated bibliography format) on housing landscapes and performances; (1B) reviewing and commenting on the interview protocol developed to study housing performances in the Atlanta metro area; and (1C) assisting with the identification of themes emerging from other researchers’ interviews.

Housing Landscapes and Metro Atlanta
Researcher: Jeremy Moore (SALT-sponsored)

Jeremy focused on (1) implementing the protocol developed by Patrick and Jessica through snowball sampling; (2) synthesizing and analyzing the initial findings from the above (we will work with Jessica to identify major themes and concepts); and (3) analyzing how the findings fit within or challenge what Jessica found from her secondary literature review on housing landscapes and performances.

Slumlords and Slum Housing (World)
Researcher: Rebecca Shriver
HIST4400 (3 credits)

The slumlords (world) component identified how slumlords and slum housing since 1960 have been studied and interpreted by scholars. The project was particularly concerned with low income housing development from 1960 to about 1990. Who developed low income housing for the poor and working class? What were their methods (e.g., subdividing extant housing? New development? Did they use federal funding? How did they identify such housing for investment?). How did people develop their own housing solutions when affordable housing was not available? How has the term “slum” been used in different cultures and to what end(s)? We are also interested in tenant response, community based organization formation, and “slum eradication” policies.

Rebecca focused on (1) producing a secondary literature review regarding low income housing and their owners and operators in cities outside the U.S. from 1960 to about 1990, and (2) producing a review of literary and artistic works that use slums and slum housing outside the U.S. as part of their setting, narrative, or commentary.

Slumlords and Slum Housing (U.S.)
Researcher: Lauren Plaisted
HIST4400 (3 credits)

The slumlords (U.S.) component identify how slumlords and slum housing since 1960 have been studied and interpreted by scholars. This project was particularly concerned with low income housing development in the “age of white flight.” Who developed low income housing for the poor and working class as whites increasing left for the suburbs in the post-Brown era? What were their methods (e.g., subdividing extant housing? New development? Did they use federal funding? How did they identify such housing for investment?). We are also interested in tenant response, community based organization formation, and “slum eradication” policies.

Lauren focused on (1) producing a secondary literature review regarding low income housing and their owners and operators in the U.S. from 1960 to about 1990, and (2) producing a review of archival collections and institutions in the U.S. holding primary materials relating to low income housing and their operators.