In the suburbs we mean business: race, class, space, and local government in an African-American middle-class suburb

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Ethnographic research on a middle-class African-American suburb in Maryland demonstrates how the space of the suburbs and the priorities of the middle class have reshaped both the manifestation of racial conflicts and residents’ responses to them. This project examines three local issues: residents’ efforts to maintain home values in the context of racial transition, local economic development, and the expansion of bus routes. Each case involves challenges that have confronted African-Americans for many years. But residents respond differently to these challenges because middle-class suburbs provide different resources, foster different values, and engage a different local government than found in cities. Focusing on the suburbs, where over 40% of African-Americans live, highlights the necessity of updating a framework for addressing civil rights issues.