Some big concepts to consider:

• Race
• marginalization
• de-industrializaton
• 'urban renewal'
• declines in marriage/rise in divorce
• Federal laws
• American diets
• labor unions (rise and fall)

So, how did we get to the point we are now, where so many people are limited to service sector jobs in fast food, hotels, restaurants, retail?

Milwaukee/Racine--economic transformation

• industries: motorcycles, outboard motors, farm equipment, lawn mowers, breweries, publishing, kitchen equipment, chemicals, etc
• African Americans gained a foothold in the economy, albeit late in the game--offered middle class opportunities with manufacturing jobs
• strenth of labor unions
• discrimination (often worked in factories, but in the lowest-paying jobs, even unions discriminated)
• Federal intervention--Fair Employment Practices Committe (est. under FDR), Federal Open Housing Law, Taft-Harley Act (union busting under Reagan)
• De-industrialization--began in the 1970s in earnest (the shift from manufacturing to service-sector employment)
• suburbanization, 'urban renewal'--effect on neighborhoods, local businesses, employment in cities
• Wilson's 'urban underclass' and effects on African men (including incarceration rates)
• growth of suburbs, shift in economic growth, housing discrimination
• Poverty rates--22% lower than nat'l avg in 1970; 34% higher in 2000--what happened??
• Rise of African American women in service sector--think about the other social changes taking place--unemployment rates among black men, decline in manufacturing, increase in low-wage jobs, increase in single parent households ....
• pressure from business--to break Unions