Building Lasting Community – The Story of Sunnyhills

10/28/22 • 33 min

American history from the 1950's and 1960's is full of images of civil rights conflicts, and as many marches for equality as there were, there were an equal number of protests against fair and equal treatment of citizens of African descent. One notable story involves a little girl, Ruby Bridges who by entering William Frantz Elementary School set off a series of angry protests and the withdrawal of every white student from the school by parents who believed that black and white people should remain separate.

Yet years before Ruby made her historic walk to the school, the community of Sunnyhills in Milpitas California was being formed as the first planned racially-integrated community in the United States. Sunnyhills was not mandated by the government, but by the people who lived and worked there, and serves as an example of what can happen when people decide to take action and do things different.

This week, I have the privilege of speaking with Donnie Eiland, Executive Producer of "54", a documentary on the founding of the Sunnyhills community, and about what makes this community so special.
Theme Music: Wild and Windy by BledJon, featuring Linnea Locsin
Additional Audio: Soaring Above the Waves, by Rolikmusic

Link to Documentary "54"

Episode Art: Photo by Rajiv Perera on Unsplash

Link to Documentary "54"

Episode Art: Photo by Rajiv Perera on Unsplash

Previous Episode

The Good of Taking Action

Our phones are wonderful, because they can tell us how much time we spend ingesting information. News and social media provide us with so much content, we can't keep up, and it can be a full time job taking in and regurgitating the content and opinions that we receive on a daily basis. The unfortunate result of this is that many important stories get buried under the rubble, forgotten because 10 other stories have taken their place.

This week, we are going to focus on people who, instead of sitting back, taking in information and watching the revolution, stood up and took action to make their world and their community better.
Theme Music: Wild and Windy by BledJon, featuring Linnea Locsin
Additional Audio: Soaring Above the Waves, by Rolikmusic

Episode Art: Photo by Luis Morera on Unsplash

Next Episode

Building Lasting Community – The Story of Sunnyhills – Part 2

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” This quote by Coretta Scott King accurately sums up the spirit and action of those people who not only believed that different races could live together in unity, they created their community around that ideal. Years after the community of Sunnyhills, the first planned racially-integrated community in the United States, was formed, people are still being influenced by the love, unity and courage of people who, in the fact of a divided country, decided to take action and demonstrate what true community is like. This week, I continue my conversation with Donnie Eiland, Executive Producer of “54“, a documentary on the founding of the Milpitas, California community of Sunnyhills, and about what makes this community so special. Link to the documentary, "54": https://tinyurl.com/SUNNYHILLS54 Theme Music: Wild and Windy by BledJon, featuring Linnea Locsin Additional Audio: Soaring Above the Waves, by Rolikmusic Episode Art: Photo by Sebastián León Prado on Unsplash