Reading Study Questions for discussion of
"Black Picket Fences"
on February 26th (through page 67)

• What characteristics define the black middle class in America?  In what ways does the black middle class resemble from the white middle class?  In what ways does it resemble the poorer segments of the African American community?
  

• Given what we know about the ambiguities surrounding the definition of “middle-class America," why is particularly difficult to define black middle-class America?

• Discuss the evolution of the black middle class:  How have its defining characteristics changed over the past 150 years?  Contrast what Patillo-McCoy refers to as the “old black elite” with the post-WWII black middle class.  What does William Julius Wilson argue in “The Declining Significance of Race”?  Do you agree or disagree with his assumptions?  Be able to support your response.

• “Groveland” is termed a “Black Belt” community.  Explain.  What are the implications of living in a Black Belt community?  What is the significance of core and periphery areas in a Black Belt?

• What similarities do the African Americans in "Groveland", Illinois share with the African Americans in Matteson, Illinois?  In what ways do the two groups differ?  How is each group perceived and treated by society?

• Trace the demographic evolution of Groveland from WWII to the present.