Suburban Segregation Essay Sample free essay sample

1. Writers Rosalyn Baxandall and Elizabeth Ewen discuss the tough and seeking times for African Americans and the struggles between races in suburban communities after World War 2. After the war. many people sought to get down new lives. travel out of busy. crowded metropoliss. and settle into comfy topographic points of their ain. They strove for places and belongings that they could be proud of and a safe environment to raise households in. Contrary to popular belief that segregation would be eliminated between Whites and inkinesss after the conflict for democracy overseas. the bulk of suburban communities were still segregated. and preponderantly white. A good illustration of this was Freeport. New York. The Village of Freeport was a beautiful and chiefly affluent community. This country made tonss of its money in the existent estate industry aiming white households. Unfortunately. there was a immense reverse for existent estate agents- and it’s name was Bennington Park. We will write a custom essay sample on Suburban Segregation Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Bennington Park was a slum in Freeport that Newsday considered â€Å"a barbarous semisynthetic jungle† and â€Å"the worst slum in New York State. † Most of the African Americans in Freeport lived in Bennington Park because of all the segregation issues that continued on after the war. The slum contained over 250 black households with most houses uncomfortably packed with six to ten people in a room. Sadly. the same poorness. segregation. and favoritism that African Americans left the South for was thirstily expecting them when they moved to the Northern States. In 1941 a group of reverends formed the Freeport Housing Authority to seek and better and reconstruct the ghettos of Freeport. The New York State Housing Commission offered the small town a 741. 000 dollar loan to construct 100 new lodging units to replace the old 1s. But the Freeport Village Board was composed wholly of people who were in favour of segregation. and they refused to offer by garnering more village belongings proprietors to vote against it. No 1 who really was a resident life in Bennington Park was able to vote. The people of Bennington Park were in favour of the metropolis puting financess to make public lodging. but so much of their community around them was racialist that it was difficult to be heard. The truth was that the current metropolis regulations were merely worsening the community. doing more poorness. and further herding the already overpopulated community. The city manager was in favour for public support for the making of new lodging in Bennington park. and The Village Board said that â€Å"public lodging and the riddance of slums is the best reply to communism since by it you remove one of the conditions in which communism strains. † The referendum passed in 16 out of 17 election territories. In 1955. President Eisenhower eventually signed statute law that would widen the Federal Housing Program and would let for low-rent lodging building to get down in the metropolis of Freeport. Even in the late fiftiess. suburban development was still avoiding a batch of racial diverseness in their policies and existent estate involvements. The bulk of suburban communities were still white. while urban metropolis countries remained chiefly African American. By the sixtiess. integrating was major end in the civil rights motion. The suburban migration absorbed immense sums of fiscal assistance from the authorities for lodging and main roads. The civil rights motion created new local and federal policies in schools. wellness attention. lodging. and jurisprudence enforcement. These plans helped promote the growing of a new black in-between category. From 1960 to the twelvemonth 1976. the black in-between category tripled in size. Blockbusting was a widely used panic tactic by existent estate agents to make an unstable lodging market through fright and bullying. Their end was to make an unstable lodging market where long-run occupants would sell their houses at lower monetary values so agents could toss it and resell the houses at higher monetary values. Real estate agents would state place proprietors that belongings values would plump because of all the racial integrating and cultural minorities traveling into the vicinity. Thingss such as this made segregation in the United States continue. and unhappily it made it look socially acceptable. Groups were formed to stand against blockbusting- such as the United Civic Organization and The Roosevelt Community Relations Council. More and more households stood house against blockbusting. and did non fall fright to existent estate tactics and misrepresentations. This sort of courage n on merely battled blockbusting. but segregation and racism every bit good. and rapidly caused integrating to go something that was to be accepted and welcomed. non something to be feared and opposed to. 2. I truly enjoyed reading this article. and I was really surprised to larn a spot more in item about the existent estate facet of segregation and integrating. It was really interesting hearing about peculiar state of affairss during this monumental clip in history. such as the metropolis of Freeport and the battles within Bennington Park. It ever gives me more of an grasp for a peculiar clip in history when I can hear a more intimate history of what was go oning. 3. This article decidedly challenged my thoughts about segregation during the civil rights epoch and even before that. Most people are non cognizant of the battles that a community has to travel through when transitioning from such polar antonyms of segregation to an environment of integrating and equal chances.