Arlen Westbrook knew right away the Cunninghams were good people after they bonded over their love of Siamese cats.
In the summer of 1957, Westbrook was recently married to a professor at the University of Albany named Kendall Birr. When he was asked to teach in Amherst for a year, he agreed and Westbrook would be going with him. The problem was, they weren’t sure what to do about their Delmar house while they were away.
An acquaintance of Westbrook’s who worked as a lawyer said she knew of a doctor who was moving to the area from Alaska. He was looking for a home for his family and she wondered if Westbrook and her current husband would rent the house to him. That seemingly innocuous query sparked a cultural challenge in Delmar.
“Then she said, ‘Oh by the way, they are colored. Is that going to be a problem?’” said Westbrook. “I told her I would talk to my husband and he didn’t see why there would be a problem, so we showed them the house.”
According to Miki Conn, a daughter of James and Margaret Cunningham, searching for a home in the Capital District was a grueling process for her parents.
James Cunningham had originally joined the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps instead of the military, and he was stationed in Alaska because of his specialty in dealing with Tuberculosis. He moved there with his family, where they lived on a military base near the hospital. There he was assigned a dwelling because of his rank. Race or segregation wasn’t an issue.
“When they came to see the house I knew they belonged here,” said Westbrook. “They were cultured, educated, sophisticated people.”
Because of a housing issue, the apartment Westbrook and her husband were supposed to live in was not yet ready for inhabitants. Birr went ahead to teach without his wife, while Westbrook asked if she could live with the family in the home on Herrick Avenue for a month.
And apparently Arlen Westbrook and Margaret Cunningham had lots in common. The two baked and did art projects, while both women secretly kept a journal about their experiences.
The unlikely friendship struck between the two women of different races would forever change the history of Delmar. Westbrook and her husband had just invited the first African American family to live in Bethlehem.
“I realized Delmar was pretty white, but what I didn’t know was there was a conspiracy not to sell to Jews or blacks here at the time,” said Westbrook. “I only just learned that recently, after the book came out.”
When Westbrook and Cunningham finally told each other about the journals, they thought maybe their firsthand experiences could be turned into a book. In 2011, “Integrating Delmar 1957: The Story of a Friendship” was released.
Through the help of Conn, the book was self-published. James and Margaret Cunningham are both alive at 93 years old, but are frail. Westbrook is 83. Conn said they decided to self publish because the goal was to get the book printed in time for her parents to see it.
Conn said both Westbrook and Cunningham were very open and honest about their experiences when they wrote.
“She writes how she hoped my parents weren’t too dark so their color wasn’t an issue, but then she was ashamed of the thought,” said Conn. “Arlen didn’t know any African Americans growing up, but knew (renting them the house) was a matter of equality.”
Westbrook said there were varying degrees of consent among the neighbors.
“This was long before segregation laws, so there was still a lot of discrimination even in the north,” she said. “There were rumors that housing prices would fall if a black family moved in and several people talked to me about ‘what I had done.’ Some were supportive, and some unpleasant and afraid.”
Conn, who moved to Delmar when she was in middle school, said the experience was also difficult for her and her sister. They hid much of what was said to them from their parents.
“My one friend in high school was the only Jewish person in the school,” she said. “Both of us weren’t welcome or a part of the day-to-day social aspects. Some friends could play with us when their fathers were at work, but they had to pretend we had nothing to do with us when their fathers were at home. The mothers were more accepting.”
Conn said some things were easier for her little sister because she was in elementary school when she came to Delmar. She grew up with the other children and was more accepted, until she became old enough to date.
“Then some doors were closed that had always been open to her before,” she said.
Westbrook said she didn’t know the children faced such social discrimination until later on.
“I always tell Miki her and her sister should write their own book because they have their own memories,” she said.
When the year was up and Westbrook moved back Delmar with her husband, the Cunninghams once again had trouble finding a home. The two families lived together for another month in the summer of 1958.
“What happened was there were people in Delmar, the Quakers, Unitarians and Methodists, the people from those churches reached out to the family and invited them to their services and events,” said Westbrook. “This helped them out, to know there were supportive and welcoming people out there.”
The Cunninghams eventually bought a house on Borthwick Avenue in Delmar.
“I think they ended up having a good experience,” said Westbrook. “If it was too terrible they wouldn’t have stayed.”
The Cunninghams and Westbrook remain friends to this day.
On Thursday, April 5, Westbrook and Conn will hold a discussion about the book at the Bethlehem Public Library at 7 p.m. The event will be sponsored by the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace.
Conn said it’s important for people to know racism and discrimination isn’t something that happened just in the south.
“And I want people to know that, while not as extreme, these issues still exist,” she said. “Race is still an issue. We were lucky in that we found a community with a good school and even if the social experiences weren’t what we wanted, we were made stronger because of it.”
Westbrook echoed Conn’s thoughts. She said since the book pieces together both women’s journals, she considers the book a historical document.
“We need to raise awareness,” Westbrook said. “We live in a different society but there is still an undercurrent of problems. Although, I thought it was important for the history of the town to see how much things have changed. Things are much improved but still a ways to go.”
