Connerly, Charles E. 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born 1946. Education: Grinnell College, B.A., 1968; University of Michigan, M.U.P., 1976; University of Connecticut, M.S., 1974; University of Michigan, Ph.D., 1980.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Tallahassee, FL. Office—Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2280. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, educator. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Population Studies Center, research associate, 1976-78, Institute for Social Research, research investigator, 1978-79; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, social science research analyst, 1979-81; Florida State University, Tallahassee, assistant professor, 1981-87, associate professor, 1987-97, professor, 1997-2003, Department of Urban and Regional Planning chair, 1998—, William G. and Budd Bell professor 2003—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Florida Board of Regents Distinguished Community Service Award, 1998; Community Based Planning Award, Capital Area Section, Florida Chapter, American Planning Association, 2006, for "Friends of North Port St. Joe Strategic Plan"; Planetizen Top 10 Books, 2006, for "The Most Segregated City in America": City Planning and Civil Rights in Birmingham, 1920-1980.

WRITINGS:

"The Most Segregated City in America": City Planning and Civil Rights in Birmingham, 1920-1980, University of Virginia Press (Charlottesville, VA), 2005.

(Editor, with Timothy S. Chapin and Harrison T. Higgins) Growth Management in Florida: Planning for Paradise, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Planning the Twentieth-Century American City, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996; In the Shadows: Historical Notes on Planning and the African-American Community, Sage, 1997; and Encyclopedia of Housing, Sage, 1998. Contributor to periodicals, including Housing Studies, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Urban History, and Journal of Planning Education and Research. Journal of Planning Education and Research, editor, 1991-96; Housing Studies, North American editor, 2001—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Charles E. Connerly is a writer, editor, professor, and scholar in urban planning and development. He began his career in urban development as a research analyst for the University of Michigan and for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 1981 he joined Florida State University and has since remained a professor there. An author of book reviews, scholarly articles, and a contributor to books, Connerly is a prolific academic who published his first book in 2005. Two years later, for his second full-length publication, Connerly edited Growth Management in Florida: Planning for Paradise with Timothy S. Chapin and Harrison T. Higgins.

Connerly's first book, "The Most Segregated City in America": City Planning and Civil Rights in Birmingham, 1920-1980, was widely reviewed. The main title of the book, "The Most Segregated City in America," is a direct quote regarding Birmingham, Alabama, and is taken from a statement made by Martin Luther King, Jr. Not surprisingly, then, the book examines how city planners continued to develop Birmingham to effectively uphold segregation, even as legal segregation was being constitutionally challenged, and ultimately, overturned. At the same time, however, Connerly points out that planning Birmingham in such a way may have added fuel to the civil rights movement. Connerly relates that the main tactics city officials used to achieve their ends were the strategic placement of highways, which effectively cordoned off whole neighborhoods, and urban renewal projects that created housing shortages for blacks. This occurred in conjunction with "white flight," i.e. the migration of middle-class whites from the city to the suburbs. According to a contributor to Reference & Research Book News, Connerly tracks "city planners' failed attempts to merge the city with its white suburbs."

Critiques of "The Most Segregated City in America," were largely positive. Indeed, Timothy Thurber, writing in History: Review of New Books, called the book "a work that will be of great interest to scholars," going on to note that the author "offers important insights" on the strategies of race-based city planning in Birmingham. Furthermore, Thurber commented that "The Most Segregated City in America" "skillfully shows how city officials in 1926 knowingly adopted an unconstitutional racial zoning law." Thurber even went so far as to acknowledge the power of these policies, admitting that despite some improvements "African Americans in Birmingham continue to face difficult social, political, and economic challenges" as a result of the city's earlier zoning practices.

Critiquing the book in the Journal of the American Planning Association, Glenn S. Johnson had similar assessments to Thurber's. Johnson called "The Most Segregated City in America" "an easy book to read that provides a historical account of how race-based city planning decisions impacted civil rights protests in segregated Birmingham, Alabama." Commenting once more on the well-written prose, Johnson stated: "This readable book will be useful and practical for urban planners." Concluding his review, Johnson declared: "Connerly does a superb job of illustrating the dynamics of change." Howard Gillette, writing in the Journal of Southern History, discussed his opinion of what Connerly has achieved by writing "The Most Segregated City in America." For instance, Gillette observed that "Connerly extends and deepens Birmingham's racist image," adding that the author "demon- strates that time and again, when prevailing laws upholding segregation were challenged, the establishment relied on planning practices to maintain the status quo." Based on this line of reasoning, Gillette felt that Connerly "exposes planning's ‘moral ambiguity’ … even as he helps further illuminate the pervasiveness of southern racism."

In a lengthy and detailed review of "The Most Segregated City in America," H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online contributor Bobby M. Wilson explored some of the background factors that affect Connerly's treatise. For instance, segregated zoning was the unfortunate offshoot of city planning that was designed to protect existing property values. Indeed, the planned segregation began as a housing solution for Birmingham's rapidly expanding labor force. Wilson stated: "It is not coincidental that a city that became known as the most segregated city in America and the place for one of the most significant battles for civil rights in America, also was the South's most industrial city." Turning to Connerly's treatment of the topic, Wilson also had positive assessments. Although Wilson admitted that "readers not familiar with the local history of Birmingham may get lost in some of the details provided in this work," he asserted that "students of race and planning will come away with a better understanding of how planning practices constructed and reinforced race-connected practices in Birmingham, ‘America's Johannesburg.’"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

History: Review of New Books, September 22, 2005, Timothy Thurber, review of "The Most Segregated City in America": City Planning and Civil Rights in Birmingham, 1920-1980, p. 8.

Journal of American History, December 1, 2006, Arnold R. Hirsch, review of "The Most Segregated City in America," p. 949.

Journal of Southern History, November 1, 2006, Howard Gillette, review of "The Most Segregated City in America," p. 975.

Journal of the American Planning Association, June 22, 2006, Glenn S. Johnson, review of "The Most Segregated City in America," p. 383.

Journal of Urban Affairs, January 1, 2006, June Manning Thomas, review of "The Most Segregated City in America," p. 96.

Reference & Research Book News, November 1, 2005, review of "The Most Segregated City in America."

ONLINE

Florida State University Web site,http://www.fsu.edu/ (May 20, 2008), author's curriculum vitae.

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.h-net.org/ (March 1, 2006), Bobby M. Wilson, review of "The Most Segregated City in America."