This is pennsylvania. A new suburb and community of 60,000 people mid way between philadelphia and trenton, new jersey. With a giant shobing center, winding lanes, it is typical of communities all over america where families are pursuing the American Dream to fir their children a better chance at life. Theyre people of modest means. A large proportion are veterans. There are a few agencies and while many have had social churches, they have not adequately served the community. Most are proud and happy in their new environment. For many it is a new house of their own and it is a major financial investment. Social life is mainly confined to visits with the neighbors. Occasionally there are communitywide residents. Levittown is built by one man for whom it is name. Like Many Developers he set the initial policy. When the houses were should, he naturally waited true its on slender resources. In 1957 they attracted internation N International attention. A man and his family moved into a house at daffodil and deep green lanes. They have three small children, the youngest only one month old. He served in the army and was discharged as a staff sergeant. He is a Laboratory Technician and is studying for a degree to become an electrical engineer. His wife, daisy, is a college graduate. They have nice things, their care was bought on time, the only difference is they are negros in an allwhite community. The town reacted in a number of ways to the new arrivals. They congregated on the street in front of his house. Some of those felt strongly enough to throw a rock through the picture window. There was another large group who were repelled by this behavior and organized to help levitto levittown. At the stores and the schools. I first read a small article that the first colored family moved into this community and following that, why i began to hear on the radio and read in the newspaper this there was disturbance around this home that these people had bought. What was your initial reaction . I was terribly shocked to find that there was people in the community who would be so violently opposed to it. I rather thought that everyone would just accept it as i would. Was the community prepared in any way. There was a town council that was just Getting Started on their work. I dont know how they planned to accomplish for the purpose of educating everyone, but i know they had an open forum one time and just within the last three or four months. Do you feel it was effective . No, im afraid it was just a drop in the bucket. There had been little sbeshs in the Human Relations Council some weeks before, the topic of conversation was for the people in level to in levittown. The situation like this rumor and gossip swept through the community. I heard lots of rumors. I think people are resented after they heard this rumor and they believed an idea that they were sponsored and paid to o do this very thing. I told name it wasnt true. Do you feel that understanding the facts of the situation will help . Im sure a more reasonable attitude in this community will prefail. I have great faith in the people here and they will soon find out there is nothing to be afraid of. Under the impact of this situation, they react with anger and force. What they say reveals their deepest fears and frustrations. Why did you select levit town to live . We were looking for a place to buy a home. We looked at levittown and we liked the homes here. The advantages that it seemed to offer in comparison to other cities. We understood it would be all white and we were very happy to buy a home here. How about the children, have you talked to them about the meyers. We have tried to keep the discussions away from the children. I feel that it is something that we adults should solve without bringing the children into it any more than we have to. I dont feel theyre old enough to understand the problem as it is. Do you think a negro Family Moving here will affect the community as a whole . Differently. In what way . I think the Property Values will immediately go down if theyre allowed to move in. Can you give a basis for that judgment . We used to live in washington dc and we saw a very good kpask of that there. Repetition of an experience that was distasteful. Is there to be no escape from living near negros . What of the dream of middle class respectable. If a negro family can afford what you can afford, how do you justify your feeling of superiority. The illogic of ones own position becomes apparent. What other on junctions, aside from the effect on Property Values, do you have against the meyers . The whole thing centers around the world integration. His home has been anything but peaceful since he moved in. He has three children. And evidently he feels they be accepted socially. And i dont feel they ever will be. But the whole trouble with this integration business is that in the end, it probably will end up with mixing socially. And youll have, well, i think their aim is mixed marriages and becoming equal with the whites. But the only way theyre going to do that is by education and by bettering themselves, not by pushing in the way they have here. Do you intend to move . At the time no. It is pretty impossible situation. We have our home here, and if the colored move in and run real estate values down, there are a lot of us, the g. I. S particularly that are stuck with their homes. As the lines are drawn, those on either side become more addiment. Tension develops and feeds on suspension and mistrust. What is the effect of the meyers coming here . It is created a great deal of tension among the neighbors. We all feel the same, but it made everyone tense in their home. This is affecting our homes. But there are others . Yes, i read about them . For what reason do you think they support the meyers . I dont know what reasons they can have for it. If theyre homeowners i dont see what reason they could have for it. Do you think the meyers will be able to leave her comfortably . Comfortably . No. What course of action are you going to follow . Ill do what i can to help to get them out legally and peacefully. And farce accepting them socially, if thats what you mean i could never do that. To take sides in such a situation is more than a matter of ones own conscious. For those who believe, a man has a right to live anywhere he wishes answers are simple and straightforward. Has this affected your relationship with neighbors . No, we discussed it freedomly. We found people for and against, but we tried to keep it being discussed. Have you heard any rumors . Many. Many. I wont repeat them because i dont like to repeat rumors. I dont think it is fair to keep them alive. Do you think rumors contributed to the reaction of those opposing the meyers . Surely they did, but we had some very interested citizens here who pledged themselves to a Fact Finding Group and they tried to dissolve those rumors as quickly as they were started by this fact. Do you think they will be able to live comfortably here in levittown. I hope so. I think people can grow accustomed to it, realize that people are good neighbors, and the majority of people here are not the Violent Group that we heard so much about. Do you think the meyers saying in levit town will also Property Values. I dont think the meyers have anything to do with the property decreasing or increasing. I think it is purely a white problem, not a negro problem. I think it is the feeling of the group that will influence the property. Those that want an integrated Community Take a stand based on their own deep feelings of what a community should be. Will it lead to other large numbers of negros coming here . I dont think so. I think it will be a normal entrance. Its not what people say its not influx. It will be a normal thing. I hope. I would like to see an integrated group here. I would like to see my child, and i hope, my children that go to and live in a group that is representative of the world. And not being an integrated group, it is not now. Not a representative of society. Of course we just said that the answer to the problem is eventually when you find that there are no more areas to which a white person can move without having a negro family in, that would be the best end that there could be. There is present influences. Sometimes theyre grave misgivings and guilt. The past slips through despite what is said. Some of the people are definitely against integration. And they have told my children that they have to marry niggers. My child doesnt even know what a nigger is. But from the sound, it has scared them and they have come home crying. Mommy, do i have to marry negros. You can marry whomever you wish. By the way, we both seam to be below the masondixon line, where are you from . Have you known any negros before you came to levittown . My father had a business in an area where there were several colored people. And i can honestly say one of my best friends was a colored girl. As children have no prejudice we became very close friends. And her later years, she has become a registered nurse and trying very hard to raise her children in a clear atmosphere. We have talked now since we have both been married and it is such a disadvantage to see her children try to grow up healthy in the atmosphere that they have to live in. A personal relationship and sympathy with a negro that is trying to improve her circumstances tries to make a difference. I found several colored people that i enjoyed their friendship. I would not let that determine whether or not i become friends with them by their color. Of their skin. Have you heard any rumors . I had heard several rumors of which that i took as far as rumors go. But the one that bothered me most was the fact that the Meyers Family has moved in to several allwhite sections and trying to be the first colored family to move in to start, the other ones, to come in and they had done this before. Now i believe that if they do come here to cause trouble, im against what theyre doing. Their principals, but if theyre just trying to find a better place to live and bring up their children, then im for them. There are those that live in levit town that like it and they intend to stay. They have no inattention of affording the same privilege to the meyers. Some of them find it more comfortable to talk in a group. Youre aware that a negro family has moved into levittown . Yes, i heard about it. What was your reaction . Dynamite. Dynamite. What have you done about it . I guess we just discussed it. How do you feel about the meyers moving in . Im definitely against it. Before levittown did you have any contact from negros . I came from a small town where i had no colored people. While we waited for our house to be built we lived in trenton for nine months and that was my First Contact with them in work and going through colored sections to work. And i was very happy i was moving to an allwhite community. Have you discussed the meyers at home with your children . Never before in our house was anything mentioned pro or con about colored people. I feel they have to be in exact with them to a certain extent, and why should their minds be prejudice . But since they have moved here, they have heard remarks and well im afraid theyre going to dislike the idea. They will, there were colored children in the school. We attended last year for the first time, and he often came home and said there had been trouble between them during the day at school. It becomes convenient to exaggerate ones own fears and help a neighbor increase hers. My boy likes sports and he used to go down every saturday with a few boys from the neighborhood. And there was an argument that occurred, Something Real silly. My boy and a colored boy got in an argument. From that time on for the whole remainder of the summer, the boy was aphrafraid to go down there because the colored boys got a gang together. They would get around my jimmy and beat the devil out of him. A major factor is fear. Fear of economic loss, loss of status, fear of violence, and fear of intermarriage. Do you think other negro families will come to levittown . Definitely. What do you think happen . Just what is happening already. There was a rumor i read in the paper where they have two colored School Teachers now. That is a good example of what is going to happen. What is wrong with that . I do not like that. I have two daughters and two sons. If there is too many colored people around here i will get after them. I dont want her associated with colored people, period. Im very definitely against mixed marriages and that is eventually what it will come to. If children are raised together theyre not going to think anything of marrying together. I just could not live beside them. I dont feel they should be oppressed, but i moved here, one of the main reasons, was because it was a white community. And that is the only place that i intend to live. If i have to leave levittown i will do so. For some, the basic issues have nothing to do with intermarriage, Property Values, loss of status, fear of crime, neighborhood decline, or of being in the minority. They saw it as a test of democracy. What was your reaction to the meyers moving in . I was happy to see this become more of an american community. There seems to be a large Group Opposed to the meyers. What would be your attitude toward them . I dont know if there is large groups of people, after all we have some, i dont know, i guess close to 60,000 people. Those mobs are more like 500 or 600. I think if you go down to a Shopping Center you would have seen 100,000 people at the Shopping Center. Those who are violently opposed to them moving in, they are engaging in what they were engaging in. You dont think then that a large majority is against them moving in. Thats not true. Some of the immediate neighbors are right here. I would not hazard a guess. I dont they is the main issue involved in this case anyway. What is the main issue . The main issue is the right of these people to live like americans. To be accepted as good neighbors. What are you going to do about it . Im going to try to be a good neighborhood. Do you feel that the meyers coming will lead to large numbers of other negros coming here. Do you think the meyers will be able to live her comfortably . I think it will take a little time and they will eventually. Have you heard any rumors about the meyers . Dozens and dozens of rumors. What kind . That he was being paid by the naacp. That the reds were behind it. In a the jews were behind it. This group and that group were behind it. There was all kinds of rumors. Some were being spread deliberately. Some were a result of hysteria. There was all kinds of malicious some were so ridiculous you could not see how people could accept them. But some people accepted them and spread them. What course do you think the future of levittown will take . I dont think its an island. Its part of the usa and i think it will integrate like the rest of the country. In levittown there are those that believe that the rights and privileges of citizenship long goal regardless of their race, color, and creed. There are those that believe in equality to. In a somewhat more limited sense. In my business whoever has money and good credit or wants to pay cash can buy a car. There is no discrimination, or color, or anything of that sor . S my home life has not been affected. The average white person was born five children. Lets put it this way. If the levittown is migrated, hoards of negros that have a right to come here, pretty soon they will have a negro soninlaw. How would that look . Was it in his rights to live where he pleases. Im no better than them. They can go anywhere they want, they have god given rights in there. Being a Good American they have the rights to the civil rights. They have the right to the pursuit of happiness. By the same token, we have mixed communities and it is a proven fact that the mixed communities are over a third empty. He could have stayed there. The only reason that mr. Meyers came into levittown was to show people he could get here. My personal opinion is this. There is something bigger behind this. I say it is a fact. I would tell anybody, and i mean anybody, i would tell them in a meeting, including the gentleman at the head of this committee for bringing mr. Meyers, i would tell him. When did you first hear of meyers moving in . I heard that he was having cough kn coffee in a restaurant, it was supposed to be a parttime job. I see him 7 00 in the morning until 9 00 at night and then the paper said he was a engineer. Where did you hear it . From the waitresses. They asked if i saw my new neighbors and i didnt care to discuss in public. What did you do . I didnt do anything. There you have it. Neighbors set against neighbor. They differ on what should be done about one negro and his family that have come to share an American Dream with a better way of life. Many seem convinced that Property Values must decline when a community or a neighborhood becomes integrated. The study thats have been made proved the opposite to be true. Property values go up provide thered is no wave of panic selling. If there is panic, after the situation has stabilized, prices climb back and frequentsly go even higher than they were when the initial sale to the negro was made. Does the integration result in a higher rate of crime, violence, or juvenile delinquency. They show a lower rate of crime than average for the general population. Is intermarriage the goal of negros and seeking to come into communities. The studies show that all of the reasons they have are seeking quality of opportunity. Intermarriage is the least. Of all of the fears that whites express, this is the greatest. Negros seek only the right to buy or rent the kind of housing on the open market that they can afford. This basic principal of the Free Enterprise system, of which were justly proud, is now denied to them in many communities. The exclusion of negros from white communities, and their restriction to all negro neighborhoods fixes ideas about them that are carried over from generation to generation. These folks notions cause the abandonment by the white population of large areas in our great cities at a tremendous cost to the nature. Aided by prosperous post war economy, negros held fast to their wartime games and sought to improve their lot in life. Advances against discrimination have been made in many fields. A larger class has grown up. Able, ambitious, and confident. These families are determined to leave the densely packed neighborhoods and theyre economically able to do it. They have the money to buy their way out of the slums. What happens in levittown is merely the beginning of what is to follow in communities all over the country in the next few years. As negros like all other americans get better education, better jobs, and accumulate more savings. Can we prepare our communities to receive these new neighbors in dignity and peace . Or will we wreck our communities with violence and abandon them in panic. This is a challenge as levittowners take a stand. Youre for them or against them. I took a stand for peace, nonviolence, and no intimidation of the meyers. I have no prejudice against colored, i would just not like to have one as a neighborhood. We will act towards them like any other neighbor. We will be friendly towards them and speak to them. I would not be afraid to live in a community where the negros would be living. I think majority of people here will accept things and believe, as i believe, that a good neighborhood is not one whose color is white or black. Is just a good citizen and such. Mr. Meyers and all negros have a right. Theyre as good as i am. The reason they came into levittown was to show people he could get here. I just feel that it is their legal right to move in here. And if they move in and theyre law abiding citizens i have no complaints. If more colored are allowed to move in levittown will go downhill. I dont think the meyers have anything to do with the property decreasing or increasing. I think that is purely a white problem, not a negro problem. They should get to live like americans as they childhood, and to be good neighbors. Weeknights this month we feature American History tv programs to preview what is available every weekend on cspan 3. Tonight we look at the American Revolution with historian john bucanan and his book, the road to charleston, nebrasin a nal green. It lead to the defeat of the british in south carolina. Enjoy American History tv every weekend on cspan 3. Tonight on the communicators, amy peikoff. We believe it is the best approach when you talk about hate speech, misinformation, or anything else, to address the problems with more speech, not with any types of content restrictions. We act accordingly. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 ernastern on cspan 2. Youre watching American History tv every weekend on cspan 3 explore our nations past. Created by americas Cable Television companies as a public service. Brought to you today by your television provider. Next on reel america, from 1957 a look at the issue of housing discrimination. All of the way home dramatizes the flurry of rumors and prejudice that arrive in a fictional white suburb. Written by political activists, it was promoted by over a dozen civil groups including the n naacp