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Resisting Segregation: Cleveland Heights Activists Shape Their Community, 1964-1976
Today, the Cleveland metro area regularly ranks as one of the top ten most racially segregated urban areas in the country. Yet, a few communities in Greater Cleveland stand out as national models of racial diversity, and Cleveland Heights stands out among them. How did it happen? \n\nResisting Segregation traces the courage, dedication, and resilience of grass root activists who waged a fight to transform Cleveland Heights from an exclusive, all\-white suburb into an inclusive, diverse community. The book documents how Cleveland Heights citizens challenged a seemingly insurmountable social the lack of housing opportunities for African Americans. \n\nIn 1964, a group of white women, inspired by the national civil rights movement, joined with black citizens – leaders and visionaries – to fight for racial equality and open up Cleveland Heights for all. Over the next 12 years, community activists lobbied city government to welcome integration and fought federal and state policies, resistant realtors, widespread racism, and hostile neighbors who enforced segregation. They worked as opponents bombed their homes and realtors preyed on homeowners’ fears through blockbusting. \n\nIn the end, they created long\-standing organizations and changed city government to forever shape the future of Cleveland Heights. They transformed a virtually all\-white suburb into an enduring, integrated community with a vibrant civic culture. Resisting Segregation is a must\-read for anyone interested in the evolution of this unique community and for those looking for a path forward toward greater racial justice. \n\nProduced by local Northeast Ohio publisher Cleveland Landmarks Press, the book demonstrates how citizen activism works, how people can fight systemic racism, and how our communities can improve with a commitment to racial equity.
248 pages, Unknown Binding
Published November 23, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 20, 2023
I've only started reading this (for a local book club) but skimmed it first. I will amend this review when I have done a thorough read, PLUS local discussion group and have highlighted all the glaring errors I have already spotted in just that casual "skim".
If anyone here is unfamiliar with Cleveland Heights (CH).... holy moly. Anyone would think this is a PREMIER Cuyahoga County suburb today in 2023! in fact... whether the effects of integration efforts by actives in the 60s-70s are causal (*I think there are MANY root causes along with this)... the result is undeniable.... CH is a failed suburb, that has fallen mightily since its days of greatness and desirability in the 20s-70s.
We have the highest taxes in the region, but our schools are ranked 4th from the bottom statewide. Corruption in city government is legendary. (*Until 2022, we couldn't even elect our own mayor!) CH has steadily lost population since the 70s, at this point it is roughly 25% less populous. PEOPLE ARE MOVING AWAY -- not white people fleeing black neighbors -- but ALL middle class homeowners, leaving a city that is largely made up of the very poor and the very rich in their Fairmount Blvd. mansions (oh and the rich folks send their children to segregated private academies!).
We were also the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis in 2008-2014 with many hundreds of homes foreclosed and bulldozed (BULLDOZED) and this was the ruination of both black and white homeowners at the lower income range.
Again: I will amend this review if further reading reveals the truths that I know as a local but... I see nothing here about the mega disaster of East Cleveland (next door to CH), which fueled much of what Kaeser sees as "white supremacy" -- where rampant integration lead to massive white flight and today, East Cleveland is recognized nationally as a totally failed, bankrupt, corrupt city with decaying housing stock and miles of abandoned housing. (For outsiders: prior to the 60s, East Cleveland was a gorgeous, high end, elite suburb.) It was not irrational for middle class homeowners -- clinging to their only financial asset, their home -- to fear having "East Cleveland" happen to their own community.
Second: I have so far seen nothing about how most of the other communities surrounding CH simply used CH as a "dumping ground" for poor and minority homebuyers -- a sacrificial lamb, so the other communities could "stay all or mostly white". this worked for many years, though is not as true today as in the 60s-90s. In other words... the integration in CH was used mostly as a bulwark to keep black home buyers out of neighboring cities like South Euclid, Lyndhurst, Richmond Heights, Mayfield Heights and so on. (And again... much of Cleveland's West Side across the river is even today, overwhelmingly white -- or white/asian.)
Most "discrimination in housing today" is not "firebombing the nice black family down the street" -- that was always very rare here (most those opposed to CH integration simply... moved away)... today, discrimination in housing is neatly achieved by cost. It is elites keeping out the "hoi polloi" by making the cost of entry level homes in their community totally unaffordable.
In the long run... has this helped or hurt actual black families and black children in public schools? An objective view would show that while segregation is obviously wrong & illegal (no argument there)... the actions of activists in the 60s-70s ended up HARMING black families. It simply re-segregated them in an aging community with failing housing stock. It got them to overpay for homes in a city with a shockingly dreadful public school system, that disadvantaged their children from the get-go. It denied homeowners for DECADES the right to advertise their homes for sale with signs on their lawn... a policy so egregious, it went to the Supreme Court and was struck DOWN as un-Constitutional!
With any such social policy, we all need to ask ourselves if this benefits the whole community and provides actual fairness or advantages... or if it is, as I strongly believe here in CH... simply a way for liberals with a "white savior complex" to make themselves "feel good about themselves" and preach to others.
If anyone here is unfamiliar with Cleveland Heights (CH).... holy moly. Anyone would think this is a PREMIER Cuyahoga County suburb today in 2023! in fact... whether the effects of integration efforts by actives in the 60s-70s are causal (*I think there are MANY root causes along with this)... the result is undeniable.... CH is a failed suburb, that has fallen mightily since its days of greatness and desirability in the 20s-70s.
We have the highest taxes in the region, but our schools are ranked 4th from the bottom statewide. Corruption in city government is legendary. (*Until 2022, we couldn't even elect our own mayor!) CH has steadily lost population since the 70s, at this point it is roughly 25% less populous. PEOPLE ARE MOVING AWAY -- not white people fleeing black neighbors -- but ALL middle class homeowners, leaving a city that is largely made up of the very poor and the very rich in their Fairmount Blvd. mansions (oh and the rich folks send their children to segregated private academies!).
We were also the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis in 2008-2014 with many hundreds of homes foreclosed and bulldozed (BULLDOZED) and this was the ruination of both black and white homeowners at the lower income range.
Again: I will amend this review if further reading reveals the truths that I know as a local but... I see nothing here about the mega disaster of East Cleveland (next door to CH), which fueled much of what Kaeser sees as "white supremacy" -- where rampant integration lead to massive white flight and today, East Cleveland is recognized nationally as a totally failed, bankrupt, corrupt city with decaying housing stock and miles of abandoned housing. (For outsiders: prior to the 60s, East Cleveland was a gorgeous, high end, elite suburb.) It was not irrational for middle class homeowners -- clinging to their only financial asset, their home -- to fear having "East Cleveland" happen to their own community.
Second: I have so far seen nothing about how most of the other communities surrounding CH simply used CH as a "dumping ground" for poor and minority homebuyers -- a sacrificial lamb, so the other communities could "stay all or mostly white". this worked for many years, though is not as true today as in the 60s-90s. In other words... the integration in CH was used mostly as a bulwark to keep black home buyers out of neighboring cities like South Euclid, Lyndhurst, Richmond Heights, Mayfield Heights and so on. (And again... much of Cleveland's West Side across the river is even today, overwhelmingly white -- or white/asian.)
Most "discrimination in housing today" is not "firebombing the nice black family down the street" -- that was always very rare here (most those opposed to CH integration simply... moved away)... today, discrimination in housing is neatly achieved by cost. It is elites keeping out the "hoi polloi" by making the cost of entry level homes in their community totally unaffordable.
In the long run... has this helped or hurt actual black families and black children in public schools? An objective view would show that while segregation is obviously wrong & illegal (no argument there)... the actions of activists in the 60s-70s ended up HARMING black families. It simply re-segregated them in an aging community with failing housing stock. It got them to overpay for homes in a city with a shockingly dreadful public school system, that disadvantaged their children from the get-go. It denied homeowners for DECADES the right to advertise their homes for sale with signs on their lawn... a policy so egregious, it went to the Supreme Court and was struck DOWN as un-Constitutional!
With any such social policy, we all need to ask ourselves if this benefits the whole community and provides actual fairness or advantages... or if it is, as I strongly believe here in CH... simply a way for liberals with a "white savior complex" to make themselves "feel good about themselves" and preach to others.
February 5, 2024
Black History month continues with this read: Resisting Segregation by Susan Kaeser! A birthday gift from Tiffany, knowing I love history and have been on a quest to further explore my new neighborhood. This book did not disappoint. Ground breaking work done right here during the 60s and 70s, at the height of the civil rights movement. My community took charge and made changes that ultimately changed the whole system. Their step by step approach to tackling integration was done with intention and dedication to a just and moral cause. There is an inclusive feeling living here that really resonates with my bi-cultural/bi-racial family today and that started to develop before I was ever born. Cleveland Heights community you are appreciated! This book is a must read for anyone hoping to crack the code of integration and might I also add Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, as well, for an in-depth discussion of housing and segregation on a national level.
September 16, 2022
Wonderful clear-eyed and well-researched book about the integration of Cleveland Heights. Should be taught in every Cleveland area school!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews