A
unique insight into desegregation in the suburbs and how racial
inequality persists.
Half of Black Americans who live in the one hundred largest
metropolitan areas are now living in suburbs, not cities. In Liberty
Road, Gregory Smithsimon shows us how this happened, and why it
matters, unearthing the hidden role that suburbs played in
establishing the Black middle-classFocusing on Liberty Road, a Black middle-class suburb of
Baltimore, Smithsimon tells the remarkable story of how residents
broke the color barrier, against all odds, in the face of racial
discrimination, tensions with suburban whites and urban Blacks, and
economic crises like the mortgage meltdown of 2008. Drawing on
interviews, census data, and archival research he shows us the unique
strategies that suburban Black residents in Liberty Road
employed, creating a blueprint for other Black middle-class suburbs.
Smithsimon re-orients our perspective on race relations in
American life to consider the lived experiences and lessons of those
who broke the color barrier in unexpected places. Liberty Road
shows us that if we want to understand Black America in the
twenty-first century, we must look not just to our cities, but to our
suburbs as well.
