The strike that changed New York : blacks, whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis

“[This] admirably balanced book will most likely stand as the definitive account of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis for some time . . . engrossing.” — New York History Winner of the Allan Nevins Prize awarded by the Society of American Historians On May 9, 1968, junior high school teacher Fred Nauman received a letter that would change the history of New York City. It informed him that he had been fired from his job. Eighteen other educators in the Ocean Hill–Brownsville area of Brooklyn received similar letters that day. The dismissed educators were white. The local school board that fired them was predominantly African-American. The crisis that the firings provoked became the most racially divisive moment in the city in more than a century, sparking three teachers’ strikes and increasingly angry confrontations between black and white New Yorkers at bargaining tables, on picket lines, and in the streets. This superb book revisits the Ocean Hill–Brownsville crisis—a watershed in modern New York City race relations. Jerald E. Podair connects the conflict with the sociocultural history of the city and explores its legacy. The book is a powerful, sobering tale of racial misunderstanding and fear, and a New York story with national implications. “Deftly weaves a complicated story about class and race, labor and civil rights…There are no faultless heroes or thoroughly evil villains here—only human beings struggling to make sense of their world and achieve justice as they understand it.” — Choice “Compelling.” — Washington Monthly

On May 9, 1968, junior high school teacher Fred Nauman received a letter that would change the history of New York City. It informed him that he had been fired from his job. Eighteen other educators in the Ocean Hill - Brownsville area of Brooklyn received similar letters that day. The dismissed educators were white. The local school board that fired them was predominantly African-American. The crisis that the firings provoked became the most racially divisive moment in the city in more than a century, sparking three teachers' strikes and increasingly angry confrontations between black and white New Yorkers at bargaining tables, on picket lines, and in the streets.

This superb book revisits the Ocean Hill - Brownsville crisis - a watershed in modern New York City race relations. Jerald E. Podair connects the conflict with the sociocultural history of the city and explores its legacy. The book is a powerful, sobering tale of racial misunderstanding and fear, a New York story with national implications.

Jerald E. Podair is assistant professor of history at Lawrence University. He received the Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians in 1998.

On 9th May 1968, junior high school teacher Fred Nauman received a letter that would change the history of New York City. It informed him that he had been fired from his job. Eighteen other educators in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville area of Brooklyn received similar letters that day. The dismissed educators were white. The local school board that fired them was predominantly African-American. The crisis that the firings provoked became the most racially divisive moment in the city in more than a century, sparking three teachers' strikes and increasingly angry confrontations between black and white New Yorkers at bargaining tables, on picket lines, and in the streets. This study revisits the Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis - a watershed in modern New York City race relations. Jerald Podair connects the conflict with the sociocultural history of the city and explores its legacy. The work presents a sobering tale of racial misunderstanding and fear, a New York story with national implications CONTENTS 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 9 INTRODUCTION. May 9, 1968 15 1. TWO NEW YORKS 23 2. THE RISE OF ‘‘COMMUNITY’’ 35 3. ‘‘BLACK’’ VALUES, ‘‘WHITE’’ VALUES 62 4. THE OCEAN HILL–BROWNSVILLE COMMUNITY CONTROL EXPERIMENT 85 5. THE STRIKES 117 6. LIKE STRANGERS 137 7. CULTURE WAR 167 8. AFTER THE CRISIS 197 9. OCEAN HILL–BROWNSVILLE, NEW YORK, AMERICA 220 NOTES 229 SOURCES 263 INDEX 275