1957 Documentary On Race In America

Researching America's history I came across a documentary titled, 'A Series on Changing Neighborhoods' by Dynamic Films Inc. 

The video footage was taken back in 1957 in Levittown, Pennsylvania, which is midway between Philadelphia, PA and Trenton, NJ. The comment and analysis was done by Professor Dan W. Dodson, Director Center for Human Relations and Community Studies, School of Education, New York University.

I felt it was important to post this piece of history because it's indicative of the 21st century.

In the documentary it displayed a typical family friendly neighborhood that became extremely tense when new neighbors arrived. The new neighbors were the Myers, a college educated married couple with two children. What made the Myers stand out to their neighbors wasn't the fact that they were college educated and married, but instead the brown hue of their skin is what caused an uproar within the white middle class community.

Various neighbors were interviewed on the basis of their feelings, in regards to the Myers moving into the community. There were progressive neighbors and there were racist neighbors, which I felt the racist neighbors were simply misinformed and were raised to be prejudice. 

It was most interesting when one of the neighbors actually stated that a black family would "bring home property values down" if they were allowed to reside in the community!

Another neighbor came to the Myers' rescue stating that the "Myer's have nothing to do with property values increasing or decreasing, it's a white problem not a negro problem. The majority group will influence property value not the minority."

The narrator then goes on to say, "If a negro family can afford what you can afford, how do you justify your feelings of superiority?"

I see the elephant in the room do you? It's called superiority. That's the problem. A person shouldn't ever feel that they're superior over anybody, otherwise the racist cycle will continue. This video is way deep.

2013 LA