The Black Middle Class Fighting for a Foothold

In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Angela Simms about the Black Middle Class in a Baltimore suburb. Williams is professor of history and director of the African Diaspora Studies program at Monmouth University and Simms is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies at Barnard College Columbia University. Simms is also the author of the book Fighting for a Foothold: How Government and Markets Undermine Black Middle-Class Suburbia recently published by the Russell Sage Foundation in 2026. Fighting for a Foothold is the focus of our conversation. In this text, Simms argues that Prince George’s County located in the Washington, D.C. metro area is the jurisdiction in the United States with the highest concentration of Black middle-class residents. Despite this fact, the county is unable to consistently provide high-quality public services to the residents residing in the county. This is due in part to the hording of resources and services in adjacent majority white counties. Simms illustrates in her text the multiple factors that contribute to the inability of the county in providing services of a higher standard to much of its population. #BlackHistory #BlackMiddleClass #BlackBaltimore