Local Impact
Fair Housing
Local fair housing organizations modeled themselves after the successful LCA. Both Ludlow and Shaker Heights became shining examples of housing equality in Greater Cleveland by the 1970's.
The Cuyahoga Plan, a reaction to the discrimination in the Cleveland real estate market, was passed in 1974. Ludlow was cited as one of the few areas that already practiced equality in the real estate market.
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Ludlow residents featured prominently on the staff of Operation Equality, a local organization working with realtors to implement affirmative action in order to incorporate fair housing principles. Also, the LCA funded Suburban Citizens For Open Housing, an organization that helped non-whites find housing in non-integrated areas of Greater Cleveland.
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Diversity in the Community
The successful integration of Ludlow led to the integration of other neighborhoods in Shaker. Based on the 2010 census, Shaker is 55% white and 37% black.
Excerpt from "The Reunion: Shaker Heights"
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"As Ludlow settled down, much race-to-race discomfort and sensitivity disappeared. 'I no longer put on my best face for whites,' a Negro mother says. 'We began to take each other as who we are.' 'At first, when I gave a party,' one white woman says, 'I always made a point of inviting several Negro couples. Now I've stopped counting colors. I invite who I am like, white and Negro.'"
-Joseph P. Blank, "Ludlow- a Lesson in Integration"
Shaker Schools
The LCA’s success laid the groundwork for the Shaker Schools Plan in 1970. The plan was formed as a voluntary busing program to promote integration in the schools. The Shaker Schools are among the most diverse and highly regarded in the nation today. Over 90% of Shaker’s students go on to attend college.
"'The Ludlow school is better now than when it was all white,' says Dr. John H. Lawson, superintendent of Shaker Heights schools. 'I believe it is one of the country's finest. And, incidentally, it has the least vandalism of any school in our system.' Ludlow children, schoolteachers pointed out, were scoring better in achievement tests by 1961 than they had before integration."
-Joseph P. Blank, "Ludlow- a Lesson in Integration"
"It is in the public schools, which are considered among the most rigorous in the country, that Shaker Heights' race consciousness is perhaps most on display." |
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