In the North Too: The Myers Family of York’s Integration Story

The Myers’ experience was recently highlighted as a subplot in the 2017 release of the Paramount Pictures film Suburbicon.  The racial persecution and harassment the Myers family experienced in the all-white community illustrates that the struggle for civil rights extended above the Mason-Dixon. Daisy Myers also recorded the story in her own words as the events unfolded in August 1957. In 2005, almost fifty years after the event, Myers published her contemporary account of the event in Sticks ‘n Stones: The Myers Family of Levittown, Pennsylvania. Later settling in Dallastown, PA, the family enjoyed a typical suburban lifestyle.

Join the York County History Center and learn more about the Myers family and this troubling event that highlights the nation’s civil discord present throughout much of the 20^th Century.

The program will feature select clips from Suburbicon, and York College Professor Dr. Peter Levy will offer insight into the historic time period and examine the history of housing discrimination that took place throughout the United States. In addition, Ted Sickler, Managing Editor of LNP Media Group and local historian, will interview Lynda Myers, sharing her thoughts on the film and the impact of the event in on her parents and siblings  after they settled in York County, Pennsylvania.

Light refreshments will be available for purchase prior to the start of the program at 6:00-6:30 with proceeds benefiting DreamWrights Center for Community Arts.

Additionally, copies of Sticks ‘n Stones: The Myers Family of Levittown, Pennsylvania and Dr. Levy’s recently released book The Great Uprising: Race Riots in Urban American During the 1960s will be available for purchase through the York County History Center.