Pastors and other church leaders actively urged their members not to sell their homes to black people. “ ‘If everyone simply refuses to sell to colored,’ the pastors assured residents, ‘then everything will be fine.’ ” They pleaded with church members: “Please help us ‘Keep Kirkwood White’ and preserve our Churches and homes.”36 When these efforts failed, and one or two black families moved into the neighborhood, many of the white residents moved out. Churches shut their doors or fled to the all-white suburbs.37 Today, even more than fifty years later, many of these communities remain almost
...more
