Shaker Heights native and Washington Post journalist Laura Meckler has penned her first book, 'Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity.' The book features interviews with several residents who have played a part in and witnessed the city' history.
Shaker Heights native Laura Meckler has written her first book, "Dream Town." In it, the Washington Post reporter takes a look at Shaker Heights' housing, education and history through a lens of race.SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- While growing up off Scottsdale Boulevard, Laura Meckler, now a Washington Post journalist, remembers knowing -- even then -- that the city she called home was different from others.
Meckler said she was also influenced by the multicultural family that lived next door, the Lardie family, which included among its six children four adopted children of color -- including her best friend, Betsy Lardie, with whom she still keeps in touch today. As such, there are chapters named for people like Jack Lawson, Emily Hooper and former Shaker Schools superintendent Gregory Hutchings Jr.The story is told chronologically, with a second chapter that actually predates the 1950s by telling of the city’s beginnings through the efforts of the Van Sweringen brothers.
“There are Black people and white people, men and women, young people and old people. I tried to reflect the diversity of the community in those choices, but what they have in common is each person helps me advance the larger story of Shaker Heights.” While telling of Shaker’s successes, Meckler notes the struggles along the way. She speaks of many stories she heard from Black onetime students of Shaker Heights High School who told of teachers dissuading them from taking advanced classes, believing that because these students may have moved from Cleveland Public Schools they would not be equipped to take on the work.
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