Review by Choice Review
Orser traces the history of Edmondson Village, an inner-city suburban rowhouse neighborhood, from its origins in the 1920s as a white, middle-class residential area through its dramatic transformation during the decade from 1955 to 1965 into a predominantly African American community. Drawing on oral interviews, newspaper accounts, and real estate and census records, he carefully details the wrenching factors that destabilized the area and produced white flight. Among these factors were white residents' racism, a dual housing market that segregated black Baltimorians in older, congested inner-city areas, and real estate companies' blockbusting techniques. Using scare tactics realtors got whites to sell cheap, then marked up properties 80 percent for black buyers who, lacking access to conventional bank mortgages, purchased homes by more risky land contracts. Ironically, new African American residents mirrored their white counterparts in socioeconomic status. Orser's book is an important case study of a phenomenon that profoundly altered some suburban areas during this period in cities across the country; unfortunately it does not go beyond the case study to determine the extent of this experience. Highly recommended for urban and African American studies collections, as well as American studies and sociology. All levels. J. Borchert; Cleveland State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
