Lawrence died in 1994, and never saw the townhomes that bear her name. But the housing struggle lived on with her daughter, Lawrence-Halley. She kept fighting for the apartments and is now a project administrator at the 62-acre complex.
They became known as the two Ethels.
"You look at the child and you see the mother's face," said Peter O'Connor, a public interest attorney who guided the housing campaign in Mount Laurel. "They're both fighters."
Lawrence-Halley is determined to build similar affordable housing throughout New Jersey, the nation's most suburbanized state. But the painful experience her family had in Mount Laurel gives her pause.
"We fought a long time to finally get these apartments built," she said, picking up stray pebbles on a pathway. She stood at the intersection of four streets named Faith, Equality, Hope and Tolerance, and added: "The issue didn't end once we got the housing built and occupied. We've still got a lot of work to do here."
Across America, a growing number of minorities are moving into the suburbs. The vast majority, however, are moderate- and upper-income residents, not the low-income tenants that activists aimed to help at the Ethel Lawrence Homes -- a handsome development of two-story units clustered around a grassy commons and ringed by trees.
Less than half a mile away, large, two-story homes sell for about $500,000 or more in subdivisions bordering fields and small ponds.
Mount Laurel is a bedroom suburb with acres of open space and no commercial center. The housing, which includes million-dollar properties, features ranches, Colonials, split-levels and "McMansions." About 40,000 people live here.
The town is filled with professionals and business managers who commute to work in Philadelphia or to other suburbs. It is 87% white, and the median family income is $76,280. Some residents in the apartments earn an estimated $10,000 a year.
"The whole point of the Mount Laurel battle was to promote economic justice," Kirp said. "The courts said rich suburbs don't have the right to exclude people based on race or class. They had to provide real housing access."
In Mount Laurel, that theory is being put to the test. And for many townhome residents, the experience has been life-changing.
"My whole outlook is different," said Chicon Cruz, 27, a single mother of twins who works as an accountant. "I have a sense of hope. My girls can go to a good school. I feel confident about my future for the first time."
