Our kick-off event for CSJ 2015 just ended and our brains are still buzzing. Dr. Kelber-Kaye, Associate Director of the Honors College, gave us a history lesson about Baltimore to give context to and explain why things are the way they are in Baltimore City. This information is an excellent foundation of knowledge to have when talking about Baltimore and to take with you to all of our other CSJ events.

Missed the event? No worries! Below is a recap of all the important information. It’s a little longer than most of our blog posts, but all of the information is important. We’ve written it in an outline form to make it easier to read.

Books you absolutely need to read about Baltimore:

1. Black Baltimore: A New Theory of Community
2. The Baltimore Book: New Views of Local History
3. Baltimore ‘68

The Kerner Report, published in 1968, was the first report of its kind to blame structural inequalities for issues like crime, poverty, and public health among African American communities. Previously, these issues had been blamed on individual communities and black people themselves. This excerpt from the Kerner Report sets the tone for the information you need to know about Baltimore and Baltimore history:

“What White Americans have never fully understood– but what the Negro can never forget– is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”

As Dr. K said, when we blame people and not structure, we’ve decided we didn’t cause it and we don’t have to do anything about it. This history lesson shows how structures built on racism led to today’s conditions.

• 1700s
  • Baltimore is very small; it is made up of mostly Fells Point and Harbor East.
  • Grain production increases in northern Baltimore County.
    • Grain producers begin using the port of Baltimore to export grain.
    • This activity inspires the rise of the shipbuilding industry in Baltimore.
    • Industrial jobs draw free Blacks and ethnic whites (Irish, Eastern European, etc) to the city.
    • Whites begin to move to the city in search of entrepreneurial endeavors, many involving the utilization of slave labor.
• 1800s
  • In Baltimore City in 1810, the number of free blacks equals the number of slaves. (Baltimore is the only place in the US where this occurs.)
  • 1830 saw the decline in slavery in Baltimore City.
    • Whites realized paying ethnic whites small wages for jobs was cheaper than keeping slaves.
    • Competition for jobs and housing created a rift between blacks and ethnic whites.
      • Mobs and gangs of ethnic whites begin to form among groups in the manufacturing industry. These mobs use violence and intimidation to keep free Blacks out of the industry and out of the competition for jobs.
      • South Baltimore became predominantly ethnically white because people lived where they worked and the white mobs and gangs had intimidated African Americans out of the industry in that area.
    • Increases in industry increased population
      • Overcrowding and poor living conditions in Baltimore City “slums” lead to disease and poor sanitation.
      • Estates north of the harbor sell their land to developers who build neighborhoods to house the growing population.
      • Using the rhetoric of “Public Health” and blaming individuals for the poor conditions in industrial “slums,” developers are able to keep ethnic whites and blacks out of these new neighborhoods.
• 1900s
  • In 1910, the first residential segregation law in the US was passed in Baltimore City.
    • Blacks could not live on a majority white block; whites could not live on a majority black block.
    • This law was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1917, but racist segregation practices continued. (Some examples are below; this happened in a lot of other ways, too.)
      • Relators would not sell houses to blacks on white blocks or discouraged whites from buying in black areas.
      • Police and home inspectors would seek out and trouble white landlords renting to black people in white areas.
  • 1937: Post-Great Depression Redlining
    • The Federal Home Loan Organization, which later became the Federal Housing Association, worked with local mortgage brokers to outline housing districts.
    • Redlines were drawn around poor, black neighborhoods and divided the city into districts
      • Districts were classified based on crime, sanitation, median income, and “undesirable populations” aka black people.
      • Redlining policy explicitly condoned and encouraged the continuation of the racist and biased housing practices which resulted from the end of Baltimore housing segregation legislation.
      • Mortgage brokers gave different interest rates to different homeowners based on race and district.
      • Neighborhoods within redlines, the poor and/or black neighborhoods, received higher interest rates which made it significantly more difficult for the people in those areas to buy homes.
  • Why is home ownership so important?
    • It’s part of the “American Dream.”
    • Gives people stable housing conditions
    • Allows for wealth accumulation
      • Houses can be passed down through generations. Once it’s paid off, a house is pure asset. Even when someone is cash poor, they will still have housing and a form of wealth.
  • WWII
    • The wartime economy booms.
      • Bethlehem Steel brings more jobs to Baltimore City.
      • People live where they work, integrating some of the neighborhoods around industrial centers.
      • Unionization brings fairer wages to industrial workers.
      • Bethlehem Steel has the first integrated union.
  • Post war economic downturn
    • Population increases
    • Manufacturing jobs decrease
  • Urban renewal plans of the 1940s and ‘50s
    • After the post war economic decline, Baltimore City policymakers create programs for “Urban Renewal.”
      • The city purchases older, more run-down homes at low, unfair prices.
      • City blocks are flattened and new homes are built.
      • The original homeowners who were displaced are not able to afford the newer, more expensive homes.
      • As a result of urban renewal plans across the county, hundreds of thousands of people are displaced. 58% of them are black.
  • 1960s
    • Anger is building as unfair housing conditions worsen in Baltimore City and the Civil Rights Movement grows.
    • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in April of 1968.
      • Anger, exhaustion, and desperation trigger riots in Baltimore city.
    • People leave the city in droves and head for the county.
      • Whites move north, centrally.
      • Everyone else moves outward into the suburbs.
  • 1970s economic downturn
    • Public housing projects are implemented to better the housing conditions.
      • Old public housing is torn down and replaced, but with less units than before.
      • More people are displaced and begin to overcrowd neighborhoods again.
    • Banks use the opportunity to provide subprime mortgages to vulnerable populations desperately looking for housing.
      • People who got mortgages they couldn’t afford lose their homes and even more people are displaced and left with massive debt.
• Today
  • 2010-2013
    • Median household wealth for Black folks in Baltimore is one third of what it used to be.
    • The income gap between whites and blacks is the widest it’s been in 30 years.
    • Life expectancy can vary by as much as 20 years between baltimore city neighborhoods.
      • Life expectancy varies based on factors like living conditions, rates of violent crime, access to water and healthy food, and access to healthcare, among others.
      • The median annual income in the state of Maryland is $73,538 compared to Baltimore City at $41,000. 23% of Baltimore city residents live below the poverty line compared to 9.8% of Maryland overall.

If you want to know more about structural inequality in Baltimore City, check out these links:

1. A large, interactive archive of information and personal testimony surrounding the Baltimore ‘68 riots.
2. Original 1937 Redline Districting Map (click to download)
3. Interactive map of inequality in city neighborhoods
4. Another, more in-depth interactive map of inequalities
5. Map of life expectancy by neighborhood

Below are featured events and internship/employment opportunities that have recently been posted or have application deadline dates that are quickly approaching!  To see all that the UMBC Career Center has to offer YOU, please visit our myUMBC group page or log into your UMBCworks account!

FEATURED EVENTS…

NEW! On the Road: Kennedy Krieger Institute Friday, October 30, 2015, 9 am–1 pm

NEW! UMBC Connects: National Security Agency (NSA) Wednesday, October, 28, 2015, 11 am–2 pm

Grad School 101 Conference Wednesday, October, 21, 2015, 4:30 pm–8 pm

UMBC Connects: Next Century Corporation Wednesday, October, 21, 2015, 11 am–2 pm STOP IN WHEN YOU ARE ABLE!

INFORMATION SESSIONS…

Information Session: Morgan Stanley Tuesday, October, 20, 2015, 5 pm–7 pm

Information Session: United States General Services Administration Wednesday, October, 21, 5:30 pm–7:30 pm 

Information Session: Defense Security Service Thursday, October, 22, 2015, 5 pm–6 pm

 NEW! Information Session: srcLogic Tuesday, October, 27, 2015, 5:30 pm–6:30 pm

NEW! Information Session Google (Undergrad & Grad) Thursday, October, 29, 2015, 4 pm–8 pm

NEW! Information Session: Northwestern Mutual Financial Network Thursday, October, 29, 2015, 5 pm–6:30 pm

NEW! Information Session Google - Grad & Upper Level Under Grad Friday, October 30, 2015, Noon–3 pm

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NEW!  On-Campus Interview Deadlines

Kohl’s Department Stores
Deadline to Apply:  October 20
Interview Date:  October 28

Morgan Stanley
Deadline to Apply:  October 20
Interview Date:  November 3

Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
Deadline to Apply:  October 21
Interview Date:  November 4

Basy’s Inc.
Deadline to Apply:  October 22
Interview Date:  November 5

srcLogic
Deadline to Apply:  October 29
Interview Date:  November 12

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FEATURED FULL-TIME & PART-TIME JOBS, INTERNSHIPS, AND RESEARCH POSITIONS

University of Chicago Booth School of Business Summer Research

US Dept of State Summer Intern Program Deadline Extended

Entry Level Opportunities w/ Actuarial Research Corporation

Keep an eye on the Career Center website (http://careers.umbc.edu/) for all upcoming events and programs!  Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors….this is an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about career paths…whether you are exploring possibilities or searching for an internship or full-time opportunity!

Get ready for Critical Social Justice: Baltimore 365 with our “What You Need to Know” series. 

In light of the Baltimore Uprisings this past spring, media literacy–the ability to find and analyze media–is now all the more important. For example, when the Baltimore Sun places a photo of a police car being vandalized on their front page, as opposed to a photo showing two rival gangs joining together to peacefully protest police brutality in their city, they are sending the message that all protesters are violent.

What narrative does the Baltimore Sun, CNN, or Fox News create about Baltimore? What story are we receiving from these sources? What is missing from these narratives? And why do large media platforms tell a different story than the one residents and activists of Baltimore tell through their tweets and recordings of police in their city? Media literacy requires us to answer these questions and think critically about the messages we receive, where we receive them from, and what they might be missing.

• Media literacy is the ability to find, analyze, and create media.
  • Twitter in many ways increases media literacy because it allows real people to both create and access various kinds of media outlets quickly and easily.
  • Facebook Groups are a way to enhance engagement with particular social justice issues. The forum that Facebook provides allows communication among community members that can shape how they understand the media they receive. Through engaging with specific issues and starting dialogues with one another, Facebook users can better see what is left out of mainstream news sources’ accounts of a story, and can detect when a news story is slanted or biased. They can use the skills they gain in these groups each time they encounter media messages.
• New media is digital, interactive, easier to access, and evolving at a rapid pace.
  • Instagram allows you to visually track events, protests, and news in real-time through the use of hashtags and following specific users. It also eliminates the hierarchy of who can produce and access news.
  • Hashtags are a method of new media, used to track and organize specific information. Here are some examples:
    • #FreddieGray – created both to honor Freddie Gray who was murdered by Baltimore police, and to organize protests around the city. This hashtag allows people to keep up and engage with news about Freddie Gray.
    • #SayHerName – created to honor black women who have been murdered and to bring attention to how black women experience policing, profiling, and violence.
    • #BaltimoreUprising – This hashtag was created to illustrate and organize the community activism taking place in Baltimore city. From organizing marches to getting groups together to clean up the city, this hashtag makes it easy to find information as well as get involved with the activism taking place in Baltimore.
    • #BlackLivesMatter – created by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, this hashtag has sparked a nationwide movement to anti-Black racism that permeates our society.

For more about media literacy as it relates to the Baltimore Uprisings, check out these articles:

News Media Struggle to Present a Balanced Picture of Baltimore Unrest

What’s Being Said in the Media vs. What’s Really Happening in Baltimore

Learn more about media as it relates to Baltimore at the Vines, Rhymes, and Headlines: Telling the Story of Baltimore event, happening October 22nd at Commons Main Street as part of the Critical Social Justice Initiative.

University of Chicago Summer Research Experience 

Sponsored by the Becker Friedman Institute and the Booth School of Business

The University of Chicago is offering FOUR current UMBC undergraduates an opportunity to apply for a deep immersive experience in research activities in economics.  The program is designed for undergraduate students with strong quantitative and analytical backgrounds of all majors. Substantial coursework in not required.

Program Elements include:

• Students will attend workshops given by Booth faculty as part of the "Economics Undergraduate Research Experience" beginning the end of June of 2016 and extending into July of 2016.  Information about this program can be found below: https://bfi.uchicago.edu/feature-story/research-for-undergraduates
• Depending on interest and background students will be matched with research professionals, graduate students or professors to work on a specific research project in economics.  This activity will start in June of 2016 and extend until the end of August 2016.  Last year’s research activities included work in Microeconomic Theory, Operations Research, Decision-Making Under Uncertainty, International Trade and Finance and Labor Economics.
• Additional classroom instruction will be provided for those students without substantial formal exposure to economics.

Support:

• All living expenses will be covered by the Booth School and the Becker Friedman Institute
• Housing will be provided in undergraduate dormitories at the University of Chicago.
• Travel expenses will also be covered.
• Successful applicants will be offered a stipend of $10,000.

Qualifications to Apply:

• We seek applicants with an interest in research and willing to work hard for the summer in a stimulating environment!

• 3.2 cumulative GPA or above.

• Open to all analytical backgrounds including economic, finance, engineering, mathematics, physics, etc.

• A strong quantitative background is a plus but is not required.

Application process:

• Required materials:  
• Current Resume or Curriculum vitae
• Personal Statement: Two page discussion of the candidate's objective for the summer and future research goals.  Include why you are interested in the program.
• Two letters of recommendation.
• Unofficial Transcript
• Please send these materials via e-mail to:      

Christine Routzahn, Director

UMBC Career Center

routzahn@umbc.edu, 410-455-3671

• Deadline to Apply:  Rolling Admission, Absolute deadline to apply is Tuesday, December 15, 2015
• For additional details, contact Christine Routzahn at 410-455-3671 or routzahn@umbc.edu

A guest post from Dr. Kate Drabinski

As someone who doesn’t own a car, I travel my bike and foot, bus and train, the occasional ride thrown in by a generous driver. Truth is, even if I had a car, I’d still travel without one, because that’s how you get a sense of where you live. Walking and biking in Baltimore has helped me understand how neighborhoods are organized, segregated, and cut off from each other by streets, transit systems, and urban planning policies. Cities look like they do not by accident or as the result of a series of individual choices, but because of planning decisions and the choices that follow. Even when we “choose” where to live, work, and play, our choices are circumscribed by stories space tells us about whether or not “we” belong. In a car you don’t have to see that, but walking or on bike, you become intimately familiar with the changes that take place as you get from here to there.

MLK Blvd separates and isolates the west side of Baltimore from downtown.  Read more at the Baltimore Brew by clicking on the image.

The separation of West Baltimore from the downtown area is particularly striking to me, the two sides of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard like two different worlds. UMBC’s downtown shuttle drops students, faculty, and staff on the east side of that divide, but both sides are integral to our lived sense of the city, belonging, and who are our neighbors. This walking tour will take us along MLK and both east and west as we learn about the history of this stripe that has made all the difference for difference.

To learn more about the neighborhoods we’ll be visiting during the walking tour, check out these resources:

• David Harvey’s article A View From Federal Hill
• The Battles of Lexington: City Paper goes deep inside and under Baltimore’s oldest market
• Where a 1997 Lonely Planet Guide Will Take You Today in Baltimore 

To learn more about Baltimore be sure to check out the kick-off to #CSJ365, Baltimore 101: Why Baltimore Matters on Monday, October 19th at 12pm.

Tickets for the #CSJ365 walking tour are going fast! If you want to join us on Friday, October 23rd, pick up your free ticket at the Commons CIC desk asap! 

We would like to inform you that the U.S. Department of State Summer 2016 Student Internship Program (unpaid) deadline has been extended through October 23, 2015.

We are now accepting applications for the U.S. Department of State Summer 2016 Student Internship Program (unpaid).

Please visit http://careers.state.gov/intern/student-internships for more information about the U.S. Department of State Summer 2016 Student Internship Program (unpaid), and to start the online application process via USAJobs. Please note that the deadline to submit completed applications is October 23, 2015 (new deadline).

Visit USAJOBS.gov to view the announcement: U.S. Department of State Summer 2016 Student Internship Program (unpaid).

We highly encourage you to complete and submit your application as soon as possible.

If you have any questions or would like to search for topics of interest, please visit our forums or FAQs at careers.state.gov.

We appreciate your interest in a career with the U.S. Department of State.