In 1957, William and Daisy Myers, who were both college graduates, moved their family into the Dogwood Hollow section of Levittown, Pennsylvania. The Myers were black, and the suburb was all-white. The result was somewhat predictable given the era, and the fact that many of the whites had left the inner city for the suburbs to escape racial integration. The Myers were harassed, openly threatened, and snubbed. Molotov cocktails were thrown at a protest which escalated to a riot in the summer, and a cross was burned in a neighbor’s yard. State police ended up protecting the family home for a month. This powerful documentary from 1957 explores the situation and features interviews with neighborhood residents, who try to explain themselves and their fellow citizens’ actions. The result is a powerful document of the racist attitudes that predominated in this era, even in the northern U.S.A.

You can read more about the incident in this 1997 retrospective article: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-08-21/news/1997233064_1_daisy-myers-levittown-epithets

The Myers never moved, by the way, and their bravery produced an outpouring of support from some members of the community who were outraged at their treatment (see article link above).

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