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Black Power/White Control: The Struggle of the Woodlawn Organization in Chicago
The vital issue facing urban America during the 1960's―the downward spiral of poverty, deterioration, and exploitation in poor neighborhoods―was attacked by The Woodlawn Organization (TWO) in Chicago. John Hall Fish, an active participant in TWO, tells the story of one of the most exciting, controversial, and significant experiments in community control.
Founded in 1961 by a group of clergymen, with tactical advice from Saul Alinsky, TWO grew to become the major force for community development and self-government in the Woodlawn area. The author traces TWO's history as it struggled to achieve significant community control over the problems that threatened the black inner-city community. He concentrates on three controversial the Youth Project (involving the Blackstone Rangers), the Woodlawn Experimental Schools project, and the Model Cities program. Although TWO ultimately failed to overcome the entrenched opposition of city agencies, its very survival, the author argues, is a measure of its success. For as the cumbersome urban bureaucracies prove ever more ineffective, it is the existence of organized and experienced community organizations that will determine the possibility of neighborhood rebirth and renewal.
Originally published in 1973.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Founded in 1961 by a group of clergymen, with tactical advice from Saul Alinsky, TWO grew to become the major force for community development and self-government in the Woodlawn area. The author traces TWO's history as it struggled to achieve significant community control over the problems that threatened the black inner-city community. He concentrates on three controversial the Youth Project (involving the Blackstone Rangers), the Woodlawn Experimental Schools project, and the Model Cities program. Although TWO ultimately failed to overcome the entrenched opposition of city agencies, its very survival, the author argues, is a measure of its success. For as the cumbersome urban bureaucracies prove ever more ineffective, it is the existence of organized and experienced community organizations that will determine the possibility of neighborhood rebirth and renewal.
Originally published in 1973.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
372 pages, Paperback
First published February 24, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 26, 2022
read this because i may use it in my thesis. very well researched. interesting to see a form of political organization responding to the problems of Black neighborhoods in the 60s other than the civil rights movement or the Black power movement.
The Woodlawn Organization was all about self-determination, and built a very strong, large org that brought together a cross-class swath of Woodlawn. starting as a militant group that would stop all kinds of white/outsider proposals from happening (like, initially, uchicago's south campus urban renewal plan), over 10 years they morphed into a more professional organization that spent most of its time negotiating with outside agencies and administering their own (innovative and effective, though smaller than govt scale) social services in the neighborhood.
it was interesting to see how the org developed internally and how they used conflicts to galvanize people. it is telling that the city of Chicago went to such great lengths to suppress even this fairly tame group (compared to the Black Panther Party or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, etc), which had plenty of middle class, neighborhood-improvement instincts. one program they did was a job training program that collaborated with a local gang, which, thanks to both TWO and the Blackstone Rangers' efforts, successfully trained and placed hundreds of "hard-core unemployed" youth in good jobs and almost totally extinguished gang violence in the area during its duration.
its great results were obvious, and the fact that an Black community — given some funding by the federal govt — was producing those results on its own, was a fundamental threat to the city government. CPD broke up meetings and jailed dozens of Blackstone Rangers who were helping run the program on entirely fabricated charges, the political machine started a congressional investigation into the program, and all sorts of false batshit stories were fed to the media. after like 2 years, the program was dead.
anyways, i disagree with some of his conclusions at the end but theyre good food for thought and his analysis throughout the book is good, especially given the nonsense that most other "urbanologists" were spewing in the early 70s when he wrote this book.
The Woodlawn Organization was all about self-determination, and built a very strong, large org that brought together a cross-class swath of Woodlawn. starting as a militant group that would stop all kinds of white/outsider proposals from happening (like, initially, uchicago's south campus urban renewal plan), over 10 years they morphed into a more professional organization that spent most of its time negotiating with outside agencies and administering their own (innovative and effective, though smaller than govt scale) social services in the neighborhood.
it was interesting to see how the org developed internally and how they used conflicts to galvanize people. it is telling that the city of Chicago went to such great lengths to suppress even this fairly tame group (compared to the Black Panther Party or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, etc), which had plenty of middle class, neighborhood-improvement instincts. one program they did was a job training program that collaborated with a local gang, which, thanks to both TWO and the Blackstone Rangers' efforts, successfully trained and placed hundreds of "hard-core unemployed" youth in good jobs and almost totally extinguished gang violence in the area during its duration.
its great results were obvious, and the fact that an Black community — given some funding by the federal govt — was producing those results on its own, was a fundamental threat to the city government. CPD broke up meetings and jailed dozens of Blackstone Rangers who were helping run the program on entirely fabricated charges, the political machine started a congressional investigation into the program, and all sorts of false batshit stories were fed to the media. after like 2 years, the program was dead.
anyways, i disagree with some of his conclusions at the end but theyre good food for thought and his analysis throughout the book is good, especially given the nonsense that most other "urbanologists" were spewing in the early 70s when he wrote this book.
March 7, 2026
Read a free copy through the NYPL and Project Muse. This is possibly the best history I’ve read on a neighborhood interacting with Johnson social programs and the evolution in their relationship with City Hall.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews