In this Book
- New Orleans after the Promises: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society
- Book
- 2007
- Published by: University of Georgia Press
As Kent Germany examines how the civil rights, antipoverty, and therapeutic initiatives of the Great Society dovetailed with the struggles of black New Orleanians for full citizenship, he defines an emerging public/private governing apparatus that he calls the "Soft State": a delicate arrangement involving constituencies as varied as old-money civic leaders and Black Power proponents who came together to sort out the meanings of such new federal programs as Community Action, Head Start, and Model Cities. While those diverse groups struggled--violently on occasion--to influence the process of racial inclusion and the direction of economic growth, they dramatically transformed public life in one of America's oldest cities. While many wonder now what kind of city will emerge after Katrina, New Orleans after the Promises offers a detailed portrait of the complex city that developed after its last epic reconstruction.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-xii
- Part One: A War on Poverty, Segregation, and Alienation, 1964–1974
- 3. Building Community Action
- pp. 59-82
- 5. Making Better and Happier Citizens
- pp. 104-125
- 6. Defusing the Southern Powder Keg
- pp. 126-150
- 7. Making Workers and Jobs
- pp. 151-164
- 8. Making Groceries
- pp. 165-179
- Part Two: Black Power and Dixie’s Democratic Moment, 1968–1974
- Conclusion: Prelude to Katrina
- pp. 296-313
- Appendixes
- pp. 315-334
- Bibliography
- pp. 401-429