In the 1930s, the exclusive and restrictive River Oaks neighborhood wasn’t open to Jewish buyers. So the Jews created their own version of the swanky neighborhood, Riverside Terrace. Situated on the southeast of downtown on the banks of Braes Bayou, the area became one of Houston’s pre-eminent neighborhoods. Twenty years later, affluent blacks began to move in (unsurprisingly, River Oaks was closed to them as well). Jewish residents posted yard signs that said, This Is Our Home, It Is Not for Sale. Despite the resistance, the area was integrated. Property values plummeted, and white flight ensued. More than 20 years later, it’s the whites and gays who are moving in and facing similar opposition from the blacks who remain.
In 1987, filmmaker Jon Schwartz, who grew up in Riverside, took his camera to his old neighborhood, by then bisected by Highway 288, and made a three-hour film taking its title from that iconic lawn sign. There’s no narrator; the participants speak for themselves. A clear-eyed look at the people moving out and in, This Is Our Home is a fascinating panorama of repeating social norms, and not-so-subtle racism.
Director Jon Schwartz will attend a Q&A after the screening, which is part of Houston Public Library’s African American History month celebration. Noon. Central Library, 500 McKinney. For information, call 832-393-1313 or visit www.houstonlibrary.org. Free.
Sat., Feb. 4, noon, 2012
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.
