A House for the Struggle: The Black Press and the Built Environment in Chicago

Multiple Award-Winner!Winner of the 2023 Michael Nelson Prize of International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST)Recipient of the 2022 Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Book AwardWinner of the 2023 American Journalism Historians Association Book of the YearWinner of the 2023 ULCC’s (Union League Club of Chicago) Outstanding Book on the History of Chicago AwardRecipient of a 2023 Best of Illinois History Superior Achievement award from the Illinois State Historical SocietyWinner of the 2023 BAAS Book Prize (British Association for American Studies)Winner of a 2023 The Brinck Book Award and Lecture series (University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning)Honorable Mention for the 2021-22 RSAP Book Prize (Research Society for American Periodicals) Buildings once symbolized Chicago's place as the business capital of Black America and a thriving hub for Black media. In this groundbreaking work, E. James West examines the city's Black press through its relationship with the built environment. As a house for the struggle, the buildings of publications like Ebony and the Chicago Defender embodied narratives of racial uplift and community resistance. As political hubs, gallery spaces, and public squares, they served as key sites in the ongoing Black quest for self-respect, independence, and civic identity. At the same time, factors ranging from discriminatory business practices to editorial and corporate ideology prescribed their location, use, and appearance, positioning Black press buildings as sites of both Black possibility and racial constraint. Engaging and innovative, A House for the Struggle reconsiders the Black press's place at the crossroads where aspiration collided with life in one of America's most segregated cities. Read more