Welcome to the premiere of "The Lines Between Us." Today's episode is in three parts.

First, an essay from Maryland Morning senior producer Lawrence Lanahan. Lawrence came up with the idea for this series; in the essay, he explains why he feels a sustained conversation about inequality in the Baltimore region is necessary and looks into the federal government's designation of "communities of opportunity" in the region.

Then a personal story from 61-year-old Pikesville resident Sheldon Caplis. Caplis is Jewish, and he grew up in the Northwest corner of Baltimore. In the first half of the 20th century, Jews from Baltimore’s east side began moving en masse to the northwest section of the city. In the 1960s, African-Americans moved the neighborhood in large numbers.

As society changed around the children of these neighborhoods during the 1960s, they looked to their parents to help them understand. Caplis was one of those children.

In the last half of the show, Sheilah talks about Caplis's story--and the history of residential segregation in Baltimore--with Antero Pietila, author of Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City, and James Crockett, an 87-year-old African-American man who started practicing real estate in Baltimore in the mid-1950s.