The First Black Family In Suburbia
George D. McDowell/Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pa.A crowd gathers outside the Myers family home, trying to scare away the first black family in Levittown, Pa. August 16, 1957.
Life in Levittown changed in 1957 when Bill and Daisy Myers moved in.
They’d bought their home in Levittown, Pa., from the Wechslers, a Jewish couple who’d decided to move on and say their farewells to suburbia.
It was a loophole — William Levitt could refuse to anyone who was not, as his contracts specified, of the “Caucasian race,” but he couldn’t stop the homeowners from reselling their houses to whomever they wanted. And so, in 1957, 10 years after the first Levittown was built, the first black couple moved in.
The Wechlslers’ phone rang shortly after the town found out who was moving in. The call was from one of their old neighbors — but when they picked up the phone, the voice on the other end was just screaming, “You N*****-loving Jewish motherf*****s!” It was the first of many calls to come.
When the Myers moved in, the whole community was waiting for them. A white cross had been set up on their front lawn, and Confederate flags hung from their neighbors’ windows — even though they were in Pa. And, outside their front door, a whole mob was waiting.
Rocks were hurled through their window. Some people threatened to place a bomb in their home, others to murder the Myers or the Wechslers, or even to kill their two young children.
When the police arrived at the scene, the mob hurled stones to chase them away. One bashed a young sergeant in the head, cracking a bloody trail on his skull and leaving him unconscious on the Myers’ front lawn.
Levittown unraveled in a single night. The peace and the security that had made suburbia a little piece of paradise erupted into violence and hatred the second a black family moved in.
