Liberty Road: Professors Smithsimon and Cumberbatch Discuss the Black Middle Class

To celebrate the publication of his recent book, Liberty Road: Black Middle-Class Suburbs and the Battle Between Civil Rights and Neoliberalism, Sociology Professor Gregory Smithsimon is joined in conversation by Africana Studies Associate Professor Prudence Cumberbatch. In Liberty Road, Smithsimon focuses on a Black middle-class suburb of Baltimore to tell the story of how residents broke the color barrier, against all odds, in the face of racial discrimination, tensions with suburban Whites and urban Blacks, and economic crises like the mortgage meltdown of 2008. Drawing on interviews, census data, and archival research, he shows us the unique strategies that suburban Black residents employed, creating a blueprint for other Black middle-class suburbs. Smithsimon re-orients our perspective on race relations in American life to consider the lived experiences and lessons of those who broke the color barrier in unexpected places.