Once In A Great City Analysis

Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story, written by a Detroit native, David Maraniss. In his novel, set in Detroit around the 1960’s, he follows the numerous changes in society underway in detroit but also seen countrywide. Maraniss excels at bringing to light numerous issues regarding the economy, social life, political issues and other important themes we constantly see in history. I have chosen to expand on the social issues David Maraniss pointed out and explain how they have had long term effects.
David Maraniss focuses on Detroit and it’s auto industry, Once in a Great City, shows how the city was booming in the sixties. Motown was producing some of the most popular artist and songs. The leaders of detroit were known country wide. Maraniss
“White flight” is the phenomenon of white people leaving largely congested urban cities to less populated suburban areas. I think it is important to understand what set the up the environment that would have caused this in Detroit in the sixties and decades to follow. I believe that some factors that contribute to this phenomenon are race and economics. Suburbanization started in the fifties after World War II, and attracted whites to come leave the cities for a better quality of life (Frey 425). The G.I. bill helped numerous returning veterans from World War II, with benefits, such as low mortgages, low loans and helped them with attending higher education. Many African Americans did see an increase in college attendance as a result of the G.I. Bill, but they did not gain as many benefits as whites did (Herbold). This bill helped mostly white veterans find homes in the suburbs while almost completely ignoring black
Race was a hot issue all over the south in the sixties, but with that said, it is important to note that racism was also present in the north. While Michigan did not part taken specifically in Jim Crow laws, segregation was common practice. At the time labor unions rarely included minorities. Since un-unionized minorities were working for these companies. They have no incentive to look out for the well being of their workers. Companies and state governments start to invest less in low socioeconomic cities and invest more the suburbs. David Maraniss mentions examples this when he talks about the old YMCA gym he used to attend when he was younger. The poverty he faced when he returned back to Detroit is a result of