Re-thinking "The American Dream of Integration" in Suburbia: Race, Class and Resegregation in Randallstown 1956-2003

Abstract

This research focuses on the suburban community of Randallstown in the northwest corner of Baltimore County, Maryland. During the approximately fifty years covered in this narrative (1956-2006) Randallstown underwent a significant shift in its demographics, going from nearly entirely white to overwhelmingly black. I present a linear narrative describing how this happened by drawing particular emphasis to the ambiguities of terms like "integration” and "stability” in suburban Randallstown. I argue that historians need to re-examine the contexts in which this terminology was employed in suburban communities in the wake of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. This research aims to offer a unique insight into the complex ways that individuals and institutions navigate their places within a suburban context that is historically defined by legacies of discrimination and segregation.