No man who owns his own house and lot can be a Communist, claimed William Levitt, who pioneered the modern suburb with the development of the various Levittowns, his famous planned communities. He has too much to do.

But the Levittowns were, with Levitt’s willing acquiescence, segregated throughout their early years

Daisy and Bill Myers, the first black family to move into Levittown, Pennsylvania, were greeted with protests and a burning cross. A neighbor who opposed the family said that Bill Myers was probably a nice guy, but every time I look at him I see $2,000 drop off the value of my house.

The neighbor had good reason to be afraid. Bill and Daisy Myers were from the other side of John C. Calhoun’s dual society. If they moved next door, housing policy almost guaranteed that their neighbors’ property values would decline.

In August 1957, state police pull teenagers out of a car during a demonstration against Bill and Daisy Myers, the first African Americans to move into Levittown, Pennsyvlania.

Whereas shortly before the New Deal, a typical mortgage required a large down payment and full repayment within about 10 years, the creation of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in 1933 and then the Federal Housing Administration the following year allowed banks to offer loans requiring no more than 10 percent down, amortized over 20 to 30 years. Without federal intervention in the housing market, massive suburbanization would have been impossible, writes Thomas J. Sugrue, a historian at the University of Pennsylvania. Lees verder →