Envisioning progressive communities: race, gender, and the politics of liberalism, Berkeley, California and Montclair, New Jersey, 1920-1970

This dissertation examines women’s role in racial politics and metropolitan development in Montclair, New Jersey and Berkeley, California between 1920 and 1970. It employs a variety of primary sources including oral history interviews, organization records, personal records, U.S. census data, newspaper articles, memoirs, and minutes from city council and board of education meetings. The dissertation finds that women transformed Montclair and Berkeley from racially segregated into politically liberal communities that residents declared provided models of racial integration as they worked to implement their community visions. Moreover, women’s community investment forestalled the possibility of white flight, ensuring that Berkeley and Montclair remained multi-racial and differentiating Berkeley and Montclair’s racial politics from those of large cities or racially homogeneous suburbs.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Patricia Louise Hampson Ege