Background
Crooks, James Benedict was born on September 27, 1933 in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. Son of Archer Duryee and Rebecca Pearse (Easterbrook) Crooks.
( This first modern study of the history of Jacksonville ...)
This first modern study of the history of Jacksonville in the Progressive Era recounts a tale of two cities. In the first third of the twentieth century, a prospering white Jacksonville dominated the urban landscape of Florida and influenced state politics. At the same time an oppressed black Jacksonville, half of the city’s population, lived in poverty. Between the Great Fire of 1901 and the beginning of World War I, Jacksonville was transformed from a tourist outpost on the Florida frontier to a substantial city of the New South. With thorough command of the historical literature of the period, Crooks addresses such issues as the increasing roles of local, state, and federal governments in building the city; the part played by the private sector, especially the business community, middle-class women, and blacks; and the threat to traditional religious values by a new popular culture. As the tale unfolds, Crooks writes that Jacksonville emerged as “a metropolis with downtown skyscrapers, suburban development, and a thriving commerce which largely benefited its white population.” In the end, white Jacksonville residents preside over the action. They welcome economic development, accept—within limits—new cultural forms, and suppress blacks, a trend that continued into the 1960s. Scholars of Florida and southern history will read this story as a case study of the impact of urbanization of medium-sized cities between 1900 and 1920.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813010675/?tag=2022091-20
Crooks, James Benedict was born on September 27, 1933 in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. Son of Archer Duryee and Rebecca Pearse (Easterbrook) Crooks.
Bachelor, Yale University, 1957; Master of Arts, Johns Hopkins University, 1962; Doctor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, 1964.
Group pension underwriter, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Hartford, 1957-1959; visiting lecturer, University College, Dublin, Ireland, 1964-1966; assistant professor, associate professor, Hollins (Virginia) College, 1966-1972; professor of history, U. North Florida, Jacksonville, since 1972; department chairman, U. North Florida, Jacksonville, 1972-1980; assistant dean, U. North Florida, Jacksonville, 1972-1978; interim dean College Arts and Sciences, U. North Florida, Jacksonville, 1992-1993.
( This first modern study of the history of Jacksonville ...)
President Roanoke (Virginia) Valley Council on Human Relations, 1968-1972. Board directors Jacksonville Community Council Inc., 1988-1992, 94—. Sergeant United States Army, 1953-1955.
Member American History Association, Organization American Historians, Southern History Association, Jacksonville History Society (historian 1991-1997).
Married Laura Naomi Ward, July 5, 1958. Children: Peter Graham, Sarah Ward.