The Black’s Quest for a Home Ownership in A Raisin in the Sun and in America  In the famous 1959 "kitchen debate" with Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev, Richard Nixon asserted the American Dream of homeownership was available to all Americans regardless of class, race, or any other social constraint. For Nixon, this claim was proof of America's dominance over Russia-of democracy's superiority over communism. Nixon, however, greatly exaggerated the availability of homeownership; owning a home in the suburbs was not an option for all Americans, particularly African Americans. Government subsidies, which were so important in making homes affordable, were not extended to blacks. Furthermore, suburban communities around the country sought to keep their neighborhoods segregated by prohibiting blacks from buying homes through "restrictive covenants." William Levitt, whose Levittown communities symbolized postwar prosperity and the American Dream, would not sell homes to blacks until the government mandated him to integrate in the late 1950s.
