Capone's Chicago: Jazz, Guns, Liquor, and the Creation of the Modern American City

Undergraduate / Graduate

Capone's Chicago: when the "Chicago way" ruled as gang violence, bathtub gin, and jazz took over the city. This class explores how the 1920s created modern Chicago. Immigrants and migrants came to the city searching for an American dream, only to be met with hostility and violence. Rising inequality led to increasing desperation. Gender norms and politics were upended as women found new ways of self-expression and organized for political equality. Federal authorities began erecting the carceral state while everyday Chicagoans engaged in the radical politics of having fun. Together we will explore key questions: why did the binary of law and lawlessness become a dominant way of framing Chicago in the 1920s (and beyond)? How did everyday Chicagoans define themselves and their city during this iconic decade? What did freedom mean in an unequal society? What lessons can we learn from the 1920s today? And just how different is life in Chicago 100 years later?