Spellbinding.The scope of Pietila's research over the past 130 years is dazzling (Jason Policastro Baltimore Brew) But by then, as Pietila vividly describes it, Baltimore - with its ugly racial and ethnic prejudices - had shown itself to be anything but Charm City.A sharply critical, exhaustively researched, and absolutely invaluable analysis, Not In My Neighborhood is the most important kind of history book-the history that must be studied so that its mistakes are not repeated (and so that solutions to difficult problems can be worked upon for the future)! Highly recommended. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 on April 11, which included provisions for fair housing. To prevent an all-out race war, President Lyndon B. was assassinated, Baltimore, like other cities, exploded. When an interfaith group testified in support of the bill, the members were spat upon, accused of moral blackmail and threatened with death. In 1966, the Baltimore City Council considered a bill outlawing racial discrimination in housing. Race relations in the city were also troubling. Throughout the county, they decimated at least 20 old African-American settlements. In Catonsville, Anderson and the Baltimore County Council replaced blacks' homes with snack shacks and gas stations. Pietila says Anderson tried to push blacks from Towson by building a thoroughfare through the heart of an African-American neighborhood, thereby effectively eliminating it. Baltimore, though, used the force of law to "achieve systemic, citywide separation." Numerous other cities, including Richmond, Va., Birmingham, Ala., and Atlanta, followed suit. Segregation existed in many Northern cities, Pietila explains. history to prohibit African-Americans from moving to white residential blocks and vice versa. Soon afterward, Baltimore enacted the first law in U.S. His description of Jack Goldenson during the 1968 riots on the roof of his delicatessen with a gray machine gun aimed at a surging mob is riveting.Īs Pietila sees it, Baltimore's racial problems were exacerbated in 1910 when an African-American lawyer set up an office on McCulloh Street in a house he had bought from a white woman. But Pietila hooks readers with anecdotes and arresting details. With facts, maps and charts, the book seems heavy at times. Pietila spent seven years researching the people and stories in this account, which contains nearly 40 pages of notes. With its sensitive subject, this groundbreaking book is a monumental effort.
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