Living as Equals: How Three White Communities Struggled to Make Interracial Connections During the Civil Rights Era

by Phyllis Palmer

Overview

Using interviews with leaders and participants, as well as historical archives, the author documents three interracial sites where white Americans put themselves into unprecedented relationships with African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans. In teen summer camps in the New York City and Los Angeles areas, students from largely segregated schools worked and played together; in Washington, DC, families fought blockbusting and white flight to build an integrated neighborhood; and in San Antonio, white community activists joined in coalition with Mexican American groups to advocate for power in a city government monopolized by Anglos. Women often took the lead in organizations that were upsetting patterns of men's protective authority at the same time as white people's racial dominance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826515971
Publisher:	Vanderbilt University Press
Publication date:	07/11/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	318
Sales rank:	537,880
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Phyllis Palmer, Professor of American Studies and Women's Studies at George Washington University, is the author of Domesticity and Dirt: Housewives and Domestic Servants in the United States, 1920-1940.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction     1
Camping for Democracy: Brotherhood Camps, 1957-1967     25
Respecting All the Brothers and Sisters: Brotherhood Camps, 1968-1974     58
Making a Neighborhood: Neighbors Inc., 1958-1965     93
Abiding Together: Neighbors Inc., 1965-1975     137
The Limits of White Anglo Benevolence: San Antonio, 1948-1968     170
A Victory of Multicultural Collaboration: San Antonio, 1969-1983     204
Conclusion     237
Notes     247
Index     291

Editorial Reviews

"Impeccably researched and invitingly written, Living as Equals is an inspiring brief for how crucial the work of the heart is to long-lasting and meaningful social change."
—Avery F. Gordon, University of California, Santa Barbara

"In telling the story of three experiments in interracial cooperation during the period of the civil rights movement, Phyllis Palmer uncovers a hopeful response by white citizens to the challenge to American systems of racial repression."
—Tracy K'Meyer, University of Louisville, author of Interracialism and Christian Community in the Postwar South: The Story of Koinonia Farm

"...leaves readers hopeful about the possibilities of successful racial bridge building for pluralistic communities in the twenty-first century."
—Journal of American Ethnic History

From the Publisher