The Holsmans, who are white, began talking to some of their white friends. “Nobody lives there,” cautioned one. A lawyer they consulted was more direct. “They’re all black. And they’re nouveau riche!” But the Holsmans loved the place, and when they started knocking on the doors in the neighborhood to ask questions, they felt even better. “There was such a good feeling,” says Julie Holsman, 54. “It immediately felt like home.” It was close to Darol’s job as a flight-safety consultant, and it was a bargain. Within a week they decided to move in–a grand Georgian home with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a two-car garage.
The Holsmans don’t represent a sweeping social trend, and nobody knows if they will. But their experience hints at what could someday be a new doorway to integration. American suburbs aren’t exactly known as hotbeds of racial mixing–indeed, many grew up partly out of the opposite impulse. Only a few cities in the country–places like Atlanta, Seattle and San Francisco–have the critical mass of affluent blacks to even sustain clusters like Woodmore Highlands. But as America becomes more suburban and blacks become more well-to-do, its experience might be more common, even if there is some trepidation in the air.
So far the Holsmans say they love their new community. One night soon after they moved in last October, Julie locked herself out of her car in the driveway. Neighbor Ray Whiteman waited with her until the locksmith came. Since then Julie has been to the neighborhood Halloween party and a homeowners’ association meeting and has hosted an impromptu weekend party. “We don’t just want to live here,” she says. “We want to be part of the community, and everyone has taken us in.” Their neighbors are quick to say they aren’t treating the Holsmans any differently than they would any new neighbors. “We make it a point to be friendly to everyone here,” says Glenda Somerville. “People tend to see black neighborhoods as unsafe or not very nice places to be, and we’re conscious of changing that image.”
Woodmore Highlands owes its very existence to failed attempts at suburban racial mixing. In 1960 Prince George’s County, just outside Washington, D.C., was largely rural, working class and less than 10 percent black. By 1990, after three decades of white flight, blacks accounted for more than half the population. But unlike in many other such areas around the country, income and education levels went up as the racial composition changed. College-educated professionals, many of whom had found work in government, which was quicker to hire blacks than the private sector, poured into the area. Prince George’s became the largest, most affluent majority-black county in the country, and developers started building high-end housing to cater to the new population.
But homes remain relatively inexpensive. The average cost of a home in Woodmore Highlands is $400,000 and rising, but that’s still about half the cost of similar developments in white suburbs. And the homeowners’ association has set strict building guidelines–houses must be at least 3,000 square feet on roughly an acre of land–to keep less affluent people from moving in and driving down values. “These people are doctors, lawyers and businessmen who want the same kind of lifestyle we do,” says Robert Brown, a white computer-software consultant who bought a home in Woodmore Highlands last summer with his wife and their adult daughter Jamie. Many blacks in the community say they favor diversity. Even with its strong economic base, the county has had a hard time attracting high-end retail stores, restaurants and other amenities. Having more whites will help attract business.
But make no mistake, most of the African-Americans who have moved to the area in recent years have done so because it is a predominantly black area. So some wariness exists. In most parts of the country, a move to the suburbs still means relegation to token status for African-Americans. And it carries an uncomfortable inference–that moving up in America means getting to where the white people live. So Woodmore Highlands makes a statement. “In our old neighborhood we had to drive 30 minutes to see anyone who looked like us,” says Janine Batie Derricotte, a clinical pharmacist with Merck, who moved there from Ohio three years ago. “I’m all for diversity. But I also wanted my daughter to feel that her lifestyle was not unusual for a black person.” Another black resident, who asked not to be named, went further: “Everything is comfortable now, but if it switched over to being mostly white, I don’t know if I’d stay. It would take away some of the pride I felt about having a nice place that was ours.”
Among the white families in the neighborhood, the Holsmans and the Browns are the only ones to buy in recently. Of the 15 plots remaining in the development, none has been sold yet to whites. And the true test is yet to come. Both the Holsmans and the Browns are older couples. It would take white families with school-age children moving in to signal any real shift in attitudes. So these are baby steps, but some residents see them as a sign of progress. Whiteman and his wife, Sheila, watched the Holsmans’ home while they were away over the holidays. They say making their new white neighbors feel comfortable is important. “It helps validate the values we’ve established here as a community,” says Whiteman, 39, an investment banker. “It says that this is a neighborhood model that can work.” At least in Woodmore Highlands.
title: “Mixing It Up In The Burbs” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-14” author: “Mary Granada”
The Holsmans, who are white, began talking to some of their white friends. “Nobody lives there,” cautioned one. A lawyer they consulted was more direct. “They’re all black. And they’re nouveau riche!” But the Holsmans loved the place, and when they started knocking on the doors in the neighborhood to ask questions, they felt even better. “There was such a good feeling,” says Julie Holsman, 54. “It immediately felt like home.” It was close to Darol’s job as a flight-safety consultant, and it was a bargain. Within a week they decided to move in–a grand Georgian home with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a two-car garage.
The Holsmans don’t represent a sweeping social trend, and nobody knows if they will. But their experience hints at what could someday be a new doorway to integration. American suburbs aren’t exactly known as hotbeds of racial mixing–indeed, many grew up partly out of the opposite impulse. Only a few cities in the country–places like Atlanta, Seattle and San Francisco–have the critical mass of affluent blacks to even sustain clusters like Woodmore Highlands. But as America becomes more suburban and blacks become more well-to-do, its experience might be more common, even if there is some trepidation in the air.
So far the Holsmans say they love their new community. One night soon after they moved in last October, Julie locked herself out of her car in the driveway. Neighbor Ray Whiteman waited with her until the locksmith came. Since then Julie has been to the neighborhood Halloween party and a homeowners’ association meeting and has hosted an impromptu weekend party. “We don’t just want to live here,” she says. “We want to be part of the community, and everyone has taken us in.” Their neighbors are quick to say they aren’t treating the Holsmans any differently than they would any new neighbors. “We make it a point to be friendly to everyone here,” says Glenda Somerville. “People tend to see black neighborhoods as unsafe or not very nice places to be, and we’re conscious of changing that image.”
Woodmore Highlands owes its very existence to failed attempts at suburban racial mixing. In 1960 Prince George’s County, just outside Washington, D.C., was largely rural, working class and less than 10 percent black. By 1990, after three decades of white flight, blacks accounted for more than half the population. But unlike in many other such areas around the country, income and education levels went up as the racial composition changed. College-educated professionals, many of whom had found work in government, which was quicker to hire blacks than the private sector, poured into the area. Prince George’s became the largest, most affluent majority-black county in the country, and developers started building high-end housing to cater to the new population.
But homes remain relatively inexpensive. The average cost of a home in Woodmore Highlands is $400,000 and rising, but that’s still about half the cost of similar developments in white suburbs. And the homeowners’ association has set strict building guidelines–houses must be at least 3,000 square feet on roughly an acre of land–to keep less affluent people from moving in and driving down values. “These people are doctors, lawyers and businessmen who want the same kind of lifestyle we do,” says Robert Brown, a white computer-software consultant who bought a home in Woodmore Highlands last summer with his wife and their adult daughter Jamie. Many blacks in the community say they favor diversity. Even with its strong economic base, the county has had a hard time attracting high-end retail stores, restaurants and other amenities. Having more whites will help attract business.
But make no mistake, most of the African-Americans who have moved to the area in recent years have done so because it is a predominantly black area. So some wariness exists. In most parts of the country, a move to the suburbs still means relegation to token status for African-Americans. And it carries an uncomfortable inference–that moving up in America means getting to where the white people live. So Woodmore Highlands makes a statement. “In our old neighborhood we had to drive 30 minutes to see anyone who looked like us,” says Janine Batie Derricotte, a clinical pharmacist with Merck, who moved there from Ohio three years ago. “I’m all for diversity. But I also wanted my daughter to feel that her lifestyle was not unusual for a black person.”
Among the white families in the neighborhood, the Holsmans and the Browns are the only ones to buy in recently. Of the 15 plots remaining in the development, none has been sold yet to whites. And the true test is yet to come. Both the Holsmans and the Browns are older couples. It would take white families with school-age children moving in to signal any real shift in attitudes. So these are baby steps, but some residents see them as a sign of progress. Whiteman and his wife, Sheila, say making their new white neighbors feel comfortable is important. “It helps validate the values we’ve established here as a community,” says Whiteman, 39, an investment banker. “It says that this is a neighborhood model that can work.” At least in Woodmore Highlands.
