Book Talk and Discussion on Race, Real Estate, and Education: Inventing Gentrification in Philadelphia, 1960-2020

Race, Real Estate, and Education is about the connection between efforts to change K-12 schools and Philadelphia’s transformation from an industrial city into one focused on tourism, higher education, and medicine. It focuses on the racial implications of the University of Pennsylvania’s use of schools to attract more affluent populations to West Philadelphia. Author Edward M. Epstein (University of Pennsylvania) will be in conversation with Prof. Linn Posey Maddox (Temple CEHD).
In his book, Edward Epstein outlines the citywide context for the plan to create “University City” in West Philadelphia. He recounts the attempts to correct the segregation, overcrowding, and authoritarian management that plagued Philadelphia’s public schools. As the West Philadelphia Corporation, the proxy for the universities and hospitals, initiated gentrification efforts, the local community resisted and protested, causing the project to fail. The effort was revived with spectacular success, however, with the launch of the well-funded Penn Alexander School in 2001.

Race, Real Estate, and Education shows how the pursuit of urbanist ideals sometimes deepens neighborhood injustice. Epstein’s exploration of whether Philadelphia’s overall approach was beneficial or misguided presents a cautionary tale.

About the author:

Edward M. Epstein is the Alan J. Lee Director of Penn’s Teachers Institute of Philadelphia. He is coauthor of Race, Gender, and Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations. Epstein received his Ed.D. from Penn’s Graduate School of Education and has taught courses there on university-community engagement.

About the interlocutor:

Linn Posey-Maddox is Professor of Urban Education in Temple University's Department of Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies in the College of Education and Human Development. Prior to joining the Temple faculty, she served as a Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin– Madison and as an Affiliate of the Departments of African American Studies and Sociology as well as the Institute for Research on Poverty. Dr. Posey-Maddox’s research and teaching interests focus on education in cities and metropolitan regions, education and urban policy, and family-school relationships. She is the author of the book, When Middle-Class Parents Choose Urban Schools: Class, Race, and the Challenge of Equity in Public Education (University of Chicago Press). Her work has been funded by varies agencies including the National Academies of Education/Spencer Foundation and Ford Foundation.  Professor Posey-Maddox received both her M.A. and PhD. in Social and Cultural Studies in Education from the University of California, Berkeley.