Long Island has been in the corridors of almost all major turning points of American history, but Long Island has been overlooked as a battleground of the civil rights movement. Since early colonization by the English settlers in the 17th century, the shadow of slavery has bequeathed a racial caste system that has directly or indirectly been enforced. During World War II, every member of society was asked to participate in ending tyranny within European and Asian borders. Homeward-bound black soldiers expected a societal change in race relations; instead they found the same racial barriers they experienced prior to the war. They were refused homes in developments such as Levittown, denied mortgages, and had their children face limited educational opportunities. Collective efforts from organizations such as Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) employed civil disobedience as a tactic to fracture racial barriers.

On February 5th, 1946, the Ferguson brothers were concluding a night out celebrating Charles Ferguson's reenlistment in the Army... Charles, wearing his military uniform, walked with his brothers Alphonso, Joseph, and Richard towards the Freeport Bus Terminal to go home. A provisional Freeport police officer named Joseph Romeika stopped the brothers over a disorderly conduct complaint. Words were exchanged, and Officer Romeika killed Charles, Alphonso and shot Joseph within minutes of the initial stop. Following the unarmed shooting, Romeikia was acquitted despite changing stories of eyewitnesses. Discover how the shooting became a catalyst for civil rights efforts and immortalized in a Woody Guthrie protest song.

Uncovers the ways the United States government responds to natural and human-induced disasters in relation to race over the past eight decades When the images of desperate, hungry, thirsty, sick, mostly black people circulated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it became apparent to the whole country that race did indeed matter when it came to government assistance. In The Wrong Complexion for Protection, Robert D. Bullard and Beverly Wright place the government response to natural and human-induced disasters in historical context over the past eight decades. They compare and contrast how the government responded to emergencies, including environmental and public health emergencies, toxic contamination, industrial accidents, bioterrorism threats and show that African Americans are disproportionately affected. Bullard and Wright argue that uncovering and eliminating disparate disaster response can mean the difference between life and death for those most vulnerable in disastrous times.

"Based on ten years of collaborative, community-based research, this book examines the history of race and racism in a mixed-heritage Native American and African American community on Long Island's North Shore, demonstrating how archaeology can be an activist voice for a vulnerable population's civil rights"--

Clarence Taylor is Professor of History and Black and Hispanic Studies at Baruch College and Professor of History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. --Book Jacket.

In reading this book, your view of a backward, conservative Long Island will be challenged. Long Island NY is America's first suburb. The book chronicles key highlights of the seventy-year time period 1945-2014 and describes the personal and organizational struggles and accomplishments of Long Island social work pioneers and civil rights, environmental, disabilities, and mental health leaders during an exciting and challenging time in Nassau and Suffolk Counties' history. The book features 630+ pages filled with inspirational stories, milestone events and lessons learned by professionals and lay people. There are over 500 names of organizations and people; 75 photos of lay and professional leaders; 100 Newsday headline stories concerning social issues; and 40 illustrations of "trail-blazing" projects in which Long Island launched "firsts" in the state and/or nation. From the Foreword by Ruth A. Brandwein, Ph.D., MSW, Professor Emerita and former Dean, School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook University and former Commissioner, Suffolk County Department of Social Services: "I wish I had had a book like this one when I entered the fray. It is a great Who's Who on Long Island, a primer of the cast of characters who have struggled for social justice over decades and also provides a chronological catalogue of the many social service agencies that developed on Long Island. To attempt to capture in one book the complexity of this sprawling place known as Long Island, and to do it through so many years is a major accomplishment. Arfin has done a prodigious job in compiling an enormous array of information about people, programs and policies over more than half a century, a time of great changes and upheavals. By framing the chapters in a national context, we are helped to understand what was happening on Long Island within the political and economic currents of national social movements that were occurring at the time. This book will be a valuable guide to those new to Long Island; it will be an excellent text for social work, human service, public administration, political science and history students. Most of all, it will be an invaluable reminder to those of us who lived through some or all of the struggles described. We will meet or reconnect with old friends and colleagues, we will understand better what motivated people to do what they did. For me, learning the "back stories" of so many of my colleagues who had worked and struggled in Long Island well before I arrived on the scene is invaluable, -- I just wish I had this book when I arrived. It could have saved me from making many mistakes and would have helped me be more effective in my efforts." Spanish philosopher, essayist, novelist and poet George Santayana said that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." History never quite repeats in the same way, but that understanding can help us learn from the past to work for a better future.

In the decade after World War II, one entrepreneurial family helped thousands of people buy into the American dream of owning a home, not just any home, but a good one, with all the modern conveniences. The Levitts--two brothers, William and Alfred, and their father, Abe--pooled their talents in land use, architecture, and sales to create story book town with affordable little houses. They laid out the welcome mat, but not to everyone. Levittown had a whites-only policy. This is the story that unfolded in Levittown, PA, one unseasonably hot summer in 1957 on a quiet street called Deepgreen Lane. There, a white Jewish Communist family named Wechsler secretly arranged for a black family, the Myers, to buy the little pink house next door. What followed was an explosive summer of violence that would transform their lives, and the nation. It would lead to the downfall of a titan, and the integration of the most famous suburb in the world. It's a story of hope and fear, invention and rebellion, and the power that comes when ordinary people take an extraordinary stand.