A Covenant with Color or Building a Winning Career in Architecture

A Covenant with Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn

Author: Craig Steven Wilder

Spanning three centuries of Brooklyn history from the colonial period to the present, A Covenant with Color exposes the intricate relations of dominance and subordination that have long characterized the relative social positions of white and black Brooklynites. Craig Steven Wilder -- examining both quantitative and qualitative evidence and utilizing cutting-edge literature on race theory -- demonstrates how ideas of race were born, how they evolved, and how they were carried forth into contemporary society.

In charting the social history of one of the nation's oldest urban locales, Wilder contends that power relations -- in all their complexity -- are the starting point for understanding Brooklyn's turbulent racial dynamics. He spells out the workings of power -- its manipulation of resources, whether in the form of unfree labor, privileges of citizenship, better jobs, housing, government aid, or access to skilled trades. Wilder deploys an extraordinary spectrum of evidence to illustrate the mechanics of power that have kept African American Brooklynites in subordinate positions: from letters and diaries to family papers of Kings County's slaveholders, from tax records to the public archives of the Home Owners Loan Corporation.

Wilder illustrates his points through a variety of cases, including banking interests, the rise of Kings County's colonial elite, industrialization and slavery, race-based distribution of federal money in jobs, and mortgage loans during and after the Depression. He delves into the evolution of the Brooklyn ghetto, tracing how housing segregation corralled African Americans in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The book explores colonial enslavement, therise of Jim Crow, labor discrimination and union exclusion, and educational inequality. Throughout, Wilder uses Brooklyn as a lens through which to view larger issues of race and power on a national level.

One of the few recent attempts to provide a comprehensive history of race relations in an American city, A Covenant with Color is a major contribution to urban history and the history of race and class in America.

Clarence Taylor

Craig Steven Wilder's A Covenant of Color is one of the best books to date examining the relationship between race and class and their evolution over time in New York City. Its major theme of how racism and white privilege were used to subordinate and keep blacks in the lowest political, social and economic position over time is persuasively argued from the first to the last chapter.

Choice

Readers, casual students and scholars alike will surely benefit from his compilation of sources and his well-articulated interpretation of the power of race in shaping social and economic conditions in Brooklyn over three centuries.

American Historical Review

A major contribution to the history of race . . . Wilder's stylish and inventive book stands out.

Journal of Social History

While a few scholars have tackled elements of Brooklyn's demographic tensions, none has attempted to survey four centuries of urban history with the depth accomplished by Wilder. . . . Fills a real gap in the social history of American cities. . . Appealing for its deft interweaving of personal with broadly demographic data and for Wilder's unusually compelling narrative style.

Booknews

A social history, from the 1630s to the present, of Brooklyn, contending that power relations are the best starting point for reaching an understanding of the area's turbulent racial dynamics. Wilder (history, Williams College) draws on letters, diaries, records of black-owned businesses, and public archives of the Home Owners Loan Corporation to show how slavery rooted the system which still effects the conditions in the Brooklyn Ghettos today. Specifics include looks at relations with the Irish, Jim Crow, the Bourgeois, labor segmentation and exclusion, and the effects of the New Deal. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Book about: Cookies Cakes and Pies or Insatiable

Building a Winning Career in Architecture

Author: David L Goetsch

Based on research with 200 accomplished professionals, "Building a Winning Career in Architecture" offers twenty proven ways to build and sustain a successful architectural career. Using a very practical approach, it examines specific "soft skills" that complement technical course work, and demonstrates how to learn and implement strategies such as integrity, perseverance, public speaking, leadership, and negotiating to take one to the top of their profession. Complete with success stories, discussion cases and insightful tips, it serves as an excellent reference and provides a road map for building a winning career in architecture. A collection of 20 strategies demonstrate proven ways to build and sustain a successful career. Presents the author's findings based on a research study with 200 successful architecture professionals. Success profiles illustrate how real people in 5 different technical professions have used recommended strategies to make it to the top of their respected professions. An excellent tool for anyone looking to be a success in their chosen profession.