Ghetto Takes Shape

A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland, 1870-1930 Book Review
Stephanie Iwaszkiw
Cleveland State University

A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland, 1870-1930, written by Kenneth Kusmer, explains the formation of the black ghetto in Cleveland during the time period 1870-1930. Kusmer was born in Cleveland; he grew up on the east side. He went to college at Oberlin College, Kent State University, and the University of Chicago. In 1973 he had been awarded the Louis Pelzer Award of the Organization of American Historians. He currently teaches urban and social history at Temple University as an assistant professor. Kusmer had a purpose when writing this book: he aimed to trace a variety of aspects of black life such as economic, political,

social and cultural, in one city over a period of sixty to one hundred years. He wanted to show how changes in each of these aspects were related to the developing ghetto (Kusmer, 1978, p. 2). The way in which Kusmer wrote his book has a variety of strengths and weaknesses.

In brief, the book, mainly, talks about how and why the black ghetto had developed in Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleveland’s black population was quite small before the “Great Migration” in 1915, but then began to gradually increase. This meant that black associations and leadership depended very much on white support. The socioeconomic position of blacks, however, at the same time, got worse as whites got stricter on discriminatory control over employment and public places. After 1915, Cleveland’s black population grew quickly, starting racist trends. One of the results was segregation of the living conditions of blacks, their jobs, and in social aspects. As isolation increased, however, this began the growth of new leaders and associations that responded to the needs of the ghettos. By 1930, the black ghetto had expanded; Cleveland’s blacks had increased class stratification in their community, as well as an increasing sense of cultural harmony in response to white prejudice.

A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland, 1870-1930 explains in detail how the author deciphers the ghettoization process in Cleveland during the time period. Kusmer also tries to include studies that mainly pertained to specific black communities such as Harlem, Chicago, and Detroit, which strongly emphasized the institutional ghetto and dwelled on white hostility as the main reasons as to why the black ghetto was

shaped.

In more detail, Kusmer stresses demographic theory and compares the life of the ghetto in Cleveland to ghettos in other cities that had different demographic and socioeconomic structures. He insists that the formation of the urban black community is not able to be understood away from the full process of American urbanization. An example would be that Cleveland’s black community stayed relatively stable and small up until World War I due to industrialization being slower in the nineteenth century. Characteristics such as these preserved a forceful black Old Elite forcefully committed to integrate the society.

When Kusmer explains the beginning of the black ghetto, he mentions how the blacks were wronged economically, mainly the how they were excluded from new trades. However, he says how the black population rate of expansion was a strong influence in the shaping of the cities’ ghettos throughout the country. Cleveland's white and black population expanded in the
1890s along with many other cities, however, its black population stayed fair compared to the black populations in cities like Chicago and New York. Subsequently, Kusmer finds that in Cleveland the tradition of egalitarianism and the supremacy of the black integrationist elite continued, while it may not have in other cities around the country.

After World War I, the black community in Cleveland grew tremendously, creating a “New Elite” of black professionals and businessmen; these blacks took pleasure in the growth of the separate black city. Kusmer continues by outlining the ethical issues which went along with the growth of the black ghetto in Cleveland. Washingtonians fought for supremacy against
Garveyites as well as the followers of W.E.B. DuBois. Kusmer goes on to say that in the end, this competition formed the "New Negro," who now saw the black struggle in terms of race pride and racial solidarity. After examining the economic, intellectual and social aspects of the black experience in Cleveland, Kusmer determines that black America found real opportunity in the city. The merging of the black ghetto in Cleveland had taken over fifty years, leaving black citizens more separated from the basic life of the urban community than it ever had before. However Kusmer resolves by saying that this isolation, as well as other goals, is what unified the black citizenship; it provided the useful basis for the future problem against racism in all of its appearance.

Kusmer’s work shows a stimulating view to the history of the urban experience of the blacks. This book is convincing, as well as readable. He completed a huge task in making an effort in a comparative view to black ghetto’s history. This showed how and why Cleveland had drifted away from what it was like in some other cities across the country, giving readers a better outlook of the developing ghetto and clears up subtleties of the urban experience of blacks. Sometimes information would not be completely clear; this was not due to his wording, however it was because of the information itself. It was an excellent idea that he had added footnotes at the bottom of every page that gave more detail about the information that was given. This helped understand the material much better. Another strength that Kusmer’s book had was that it not only analyzed the Afro-American community of Cleveland during the time period, but he also included the development of ghettos in other cities in the country. He also expanded all-encompassing studies by Meier, Franklin, Frazier, Spero, and Harris. He had included a great amount of sources, as well as mentioning each aspect of black life, including experiences that women had come across. His data on the city of Cleveland is well authenticated. He uses biographical illustrations, blends statistical data with manuscript sources, and contrasts the blacks with the experiences of immigrants; these all help make his study help readers better understand the making of the black ghetto in Cleveland (Kusmer, 1978, pp. 71-74) (Kusmer, 1978, pp. 146-147).
While Kusmer has many strengths in his work, there are some weaknesses as well.

One weakness is that much of the information included is not in chronological order. This makes it difficult for the reader to understand in which order these events had occurred. Flipping back and forth between pages is sometimes needed, as well as making a timeline of your own. While Kusmer did have a rhyme or reason as to why he had written the book how he did, a way to solve this issue would have been to simply write the book in chronological order. Another weakness is that sometimes the book is quite dry. It is an interesting read, however at times it is more like reading a history book:

bland.
Overall, one is able to see that Kusmer’s book has more strengths than weaknesses. He goes above and beyond an everyday history book; his study is thorough and stretches beyond basic generalizations of what had happened back then. Not only had he included statistical data in his study, but he had also included primary sources. His widespread analysis of the growth of a single black ghetto guarantees to present a model of the Afro-American experience for historians in the future. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of Cleveland, as well as to people who are interested in how the black population had developed as a whole. Kusmer had included not only how blacks were treated, but also how immigrant groups were as well. He said how everyone in the city of Cleveland had been affected by the “Great Migration,” whether it be good or bad. This was a major part of Cleveland history. I feel as if it is important for any Clevelander to know how their city had come about, population-wise. This book would be excellent for one interested in how the black population had developed as a whole because it gives more detail than simply just the basic facts. He helps one visualize the experience that the black population had faced, not only in Cleveland, but in other cities around the country as well. As Kusmer had put it, “A Ghetto Takes Shape constitutes an attempt at what might be called comprehensive comparative history (Kusmer, 1978, p. 2).” That is just as he had done. He did not stick to talking about only one aspect of the life of the black population, but he had covered them all – economic, political, social, and cultural. Kusmer had also made the study of the development more comprehensible by mentioning the changing opinions of the whites toward the blacks. He had compared the position of blacks with whites and immigrants in the social order, as well as setting the growth of the black ghetto in its urban and racial context. Overall, we are able to see that Kusmer had not written just any ordinary history book about the development of the black ghettos in Cleveland; he had gone above and beyond.

Word Count: 1,526

Works Cited
Kusmer, K. (1978). A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland, 1870-1930. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.