Films with: Wilson, William J.

Roots of racial tensions urban ethnic neighborhoods /

Dr. Wilson discusses the ethnographic study he and his graduate students undertook in four working/lower-middle class neighborhoods in Chicago : An African-American neighborhood, a Latino neighborhood, and two white-ethnic neighborhoods, one solidly white and the other undergoing ethnic change from white to Latino, from 1993-1995. The purpose of the research was to learn how the residents of these neighborhoods handled their collective problems, maintained social order, and achieved a proper share of city and state resources. Also examined the way in which these neighborhoods functioned as self-governing microcosms and how each neighborhood related to and perceived other racial and ethnic groups in the city.

DVD 3766

Two nations of black America

There is a growing economic divide in black America. Today, America's black middle class is the largest in its history, yet roughly one-third of black America continues to live in poverty. This film measures the economic and social success of the civil rights movement and the gap between middle class and poor African-Americans through interviews with noted Afro-Americans and historical film footage.

DVD 5430