Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2015 Growing Diversity: Urban Renewal, Community Activism, and the Politics of Cultural Diversity in Uptown Chicago, 1940-1970 Devin Hunter Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Hunter, Devin, "Growing Diversity: Urban Renewal, Community Activism, and the Politics of Cultural Diversity in Uptown Chicago, 1940-1970" (2015). Dissertations. 1640. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1640 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2015 Devin Hunter LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO GROWING DIVERSITY: URBAN RENEWAL, COMMUNITY ACTIVISM, AND THE POLITICS OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN UPTOWN CHICAGO, 1940-1970 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN HISTORY BY DEVIN VELOSCO HUNTER CHICAGO, IL AUGUST 2015 Copyright by Devin Velosco Hunter, 2015 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Much of the credit for any value of this dissertation is due to Timothy Gilfoyle. As an adviser, he provided insight and direction from the earliest stages of this project, often suggesting themes that I had yet to consider. Tim is a comprehensive editor, and I am in debt to his tireless attention to the art and skill of crafting a compelling narrative. The remainder of my committee—Elliott Gorn, Elizabeth Fraterrigo, and Michelle Nickerson—each provided timely and valuable feedback and guidance throughout. Their work and their approaches to history will always be models to me. I cannot imagine a better home for my graduate study than Loyola University Chicago. I benefitted from five years of financial support from the History Department and the Graduate School. A fellowship from the Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation and the Graduate School allowed me two semesters to focus on the completion of this dissertation. Many faculty impacted my work, specifically through the mentorship of Theodore Karamanski and Patricia Mooney-Melvin. From the very beginning, my colleagues proved to be my greatest critics and supporters—in the classroom, in writing groups, at the coffee shop or bar, or on the basketball court. I consider Anthony Di Lorenzo, Amelia Serafine, Erin Feichtinger, Christopher Ramsey, and Dan Ott to be great scholars and even better friends. Many historians—too many to recognize—offered meaningful thoughts on my research and writing. Among the most valuable were members of the Newberry Library iii Urban Dissertation Writing Group, particularly Andrew Baer and Samuel Kling. LaDale Winling never failed to make time to catch up with me and listen. Several sessions and chance meetings at conferences resulted in important conversations, including those with Perry Duis, Amanda Seligman, Lorrin Thomas, Carol Anne McKibben, Lily Geismer, and John Fairfield. Those who have also written about Uptown never failed to be generous with their time and thoughts. I am grateful for the work and time given to me by Paul Siegel, James Tracy, Robert Rehak, and Hy Thurman. My dear friend Adrian De Salvo took time to educate me on film history and theory, which salvaged much of the final chapter. I also benefitted greatly from interviews. Albert Votaw’s amazing daughters, Marianne, Claire, and Catherine, exceeded any reasonable expectations in sharing memories of their father. Vivian Rothstein not only provided several interviews, but also scanned and sent me many important documents previously locked away (unintentionally) in her personal archives. My journey through graduate school was only possible through the love, support, and patience of my closest friends and family. I am lucky to call Andrew Houston my best and oldest Chicago friend. My parents, Losco and Connie Hunter, and my sister, Christine Hunter Geize, deserve so much more than a simple section in an acknowledgment. Likewise for my wife, June. She remains for me an icon of grace, sympathy, diligence, and perseverance. Thank you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES vi LIST OF MAPS viii FREQUENTLY USED ABBREVIATIONS ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: THE “CITY WITHIN A CITY” 15 CHAPTER TWO: ALBERT VOTAW AND LIBERAL URBANISM 63 CHAPTER THREE: NEWCOMERS 106 CHAPTER FOUR: REVEREND KUBOSE’S JUDO EXHIBITION 148 CHAPTER FIVE: “I FEEL TERRIFIC!” 201 CHAPTER SIX: CRACKS IN THE REDEVELOPMENT CONSENSUS 245 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE WAR ON POVERTY AND THE NEW LEFT IN A COMMUNITY ON THE BRINK 276 CHAPTER EIGHT: REVOLUTIONARY UPTOWN IN THE MOVIES 340 CONCLUSION: MIDNIGHT AT CAROL’S PUB 393 BIBLIOGRAPHY 405 VITA 424 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Intersection of Sheridan Road and Montrose Avenue, Looking North (1937) 38 Figure 2. Postcard of the Edgewater Beach Hotel and Apartments (ca. 1930) 47 Figure 3. Interior for the Proposed Marine-Argyle Co-op Apartments 47 Figure 4. Albert Votaw at a UCC Meeting (1956) 86 Figure 5. Editorial Cartoon for "Hillbilly 'Invaders' Shock, Terrify Chicago with Primitive Habits," Charleston (WV) Gazette, March 6, 1957 130 Figure 6. UCC Promotional Photograph for the 1960 Folk Fair 183 Figure 7. Program for the 1960 Uptown Folk Fair 186 Figure 8. Lawrence Avenue Portion of the Proposed Section 314 Demonstration Site 218 Figure 9. Combined Insurance Company Headquarters Expansion (Exterior) 237 Figure 10. Combined Insurance Company Headquarters Expansion (Interior) 237 Figure 11. Postwar Modern Architecture in Uptown 240 Figure 12. Lakeside Place and Lawrence Avenue Urban Renewal Demonstration Site (Hallway) 272 Figure 13. Lakeside Place and Lawrence Avenue Urban Renewal Demonstration Site (Kitchen) 272 Figure 14. Lakeside Place and Lawrence Avenue Urban Renewal Demonstration Site (Street) 272 Figure 15. Flyer for the UCC 10th Annual Meeting (1965) 278 Figure 16. Flyer for the STREETS Lead Poisoning Testing Project (1966) 321 Figure17. Flyer for the Goodfellows Summerdale Police Protest March (1966) 323 vi Figure 18. Bandaged Uptown Protestor Marches on the Summerdale Police Station 326 Figure 19. JOIN Headquarters after the 1966 Police Raid 331 Figure 20. Black “Militant” Scene from Medium Cool 349 Figure 21. Scene from Medium Cool in the Streets of Uptown 349 Figure 22. Actress Verna Bloom in the Midst of Protesters 352 Figure 23. Actress Verna Bloom in the Midst of Protesters 352 Figure 24. Harold Blankenship as Harold Horton in Medium Cool 363 Figure 25. Charles Geary as Harold’s Father 363 Figure 26. Peggy Terry and Eileen Horton 367 Figure 27. SLCC Leader Ralph Abernathy, Mexican American Activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, and Peggy Terry 367 Figure 28. Charles Geary Commandeers an Urban Renewal Meeting. 380 Figure 29. Stars of Uptown Radical Organizing in the Late-Sixties 385 Figure 30. Mural on Nha Hang Restaurant, Argyle Avenue (2015) 394 vii LIST OF MAPS Map 1. Uptown Boundaries, 1920-1980 6 Map 2. African American Population in Chicago (1940) 22 Map 3. Uptown Census Tracts (1940-1960) 25 Map 4. Median Household Income (1950) 29 Map 5. Households with More than One Person per Room (1950) 31 Map 6. Dilapidated Dwelling Units without Baths or Toilets (1950) 33 Map 7. Vacant Available Dwelling Units (1960) 34 Map 8. Meltzer Associate’s “Plan for Uptown,” 1962 Land Use 224 Map 9. Proposed Result of Plan by 1972 224 Map 10. Proposal for the Uptown Business Center and Reconfigured Broadway 227 Map 11. Results of the 1962 Urban Renewal Bond Election by Precinct 257 Map 12. Votes for Morris Hirsh by Precinct, February 1963 Aldermanic Election 263 Map 13. Non-White Population (1980) 402 viii LIST OF FREQUENTLY USED ABBREVIATIONS CCUO Chicago Commission for Urban Opportunity CMC Chicago Mountain Center DUR Department of Urban Renewal ERAP Economic Research and Action Program HHUC Hull House Uptown Center JOIN Jobs or Income Now MUPC Montrose Urban Progress Center OEO Office of Economic Opportunity SDS Students for a Democratic Society STREETS Socialization, Training, Recreation, Education, Employment, Technical Services UCC Uptown Chicago Commission VISTA Volunteers in Service of America ix INTRODUCTION In 1970 the legendary Chicago author and media personality Studs Terkel released Hard Times, a book based on oral histories about the Great Depression. Terkel interviewed dozens of people, drawing out their memories of how they survived the 1930s. As always, he carefully selected a broad range of perspectives that traversed race, class, and geography. Terkel found some of his richest sources in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, where he had many close friends. Indeed, Terkel became so enamored with the low-income, marginalized, and activist residents of Uptown that he moved there in 1977. Terkel was taken by some of his Uptown Hard Times respondents enough to return to them time and again, for books and radio or television shows about work, race, music, and even death. One such case was that of Buddy Blankenship, a West Virginian who migrated to Uptown in the mid-1960s. Blankenship was a life-long coal miner before being pushed out of Appalachia by a constricted labor environment. He joined thousands like him in Uptown—poor southern and Appalachian whites with very similar circumstances, but also Puerto Ricans displaced by nearby urban renewal projects, American Indians seeking sustainable employment away from the reservation, and Asian Americans who purchased apartment buildings and operated restaurants, among many others. Uptown, as Terkel was fond of saying, was Chicago’s premier multicultural port-of-entry. Blankenship told Terkel about his tough life in the southern mountains, about his long walk to a tiny 1 2 school, about his backbreaking mine work that he started as a teenager, and about the cruel company bosses, and the death and maiming he witnessed over the years.