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 |  Carman Mill Road is where the divide between the portion of Massapequa that attends Massapequa High School, and the one that attends Amityville exists. On the left is Berner Middle School (Massapequa School District) and the right is a residential area. I've never been there, and know nobody from there, although I've spent many years so close to it. This map actually incorrectly labels part of East Massapequa as West Amityville. West Amityville doesn't exist, and Amityville doesn't start until you cross County Line Road, which is also pictured, to the right, from Massapequa. The map accurately portrays how it feels the towns are divided though, right on Carman Mill Road. 50 Carman Mill Road New York, United States of America |
During the Personal Housing History Project, many students referred to the ethnic or racial composition of a certain area as a pull factor to where they live in New York City. In New York City, it is obvious that many of the enclaves continue to thrive, partly due to the camaraderie of living amongst those one shares a culture with. In reading Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States by Kenneth T. Jackson, the reader is brought to understand that these divides by race and ethnicity also exist in the suburbs. He speaks of events related to the Federal Housing Administration that one can’t believe were permitted back then. He mentions a strict “white-black” separation that needed to be maintained in order to keep investment values up. He also describes “covenants” within deeds that were temporarily able to condemn black people from becoming one’s neighbors, not insuring multi-family homes that featured a racial mix, and that the presence of a wall separating white and black homes in Detroit was the determinant factor in whether houses were allocated loans. These practices have rightfully been outlawed many years ago, but the effects they had are still present in suburbs today. The most intense example I can think of is in my hometown. Massapequa is a very white town. It includes Massapequa, Massapequa Park, & East Massapequa. However, East Massapequa is not considered an actual part of the town. The border of East Massapequa and Massapequa is along Carman Mill Road. There is the most intense racial divide I have ever seen in my life along this road. East Massapequa citizens go to Amityville High School, and all other Massapequa residents go to Massapequa. Massapequa High School has 5% minority enrollment, and Amityville’s is 93%. Massapequa’s graduation rate is also 17% higher than Amityville’s. This divide had been established when Americans first started inhabiting the newly built suburbs that branched out from Levittown and into Massapequa and Amityville. Although the discriminatory practices that established this situation are far outdated, their repercussions are clearly still present today. Here is the link to an article by a Massapequan addressing the lack of diversity in our town, primarily due to the aforementioned methods of the FHA.
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