Ferguson's Experience Offers Lessons on Integration

Sharon Golliday grew up in the Pruett-Igoe public housing project in St. Louis, a high-rise complex so violent that even the police were afraid to enter.

So like many African-Americans, she and her family took advantage of a sea change in federal housing policy in the 1980s and 90s that came to regard projects as part of the problem. Using a government voucher to subsidize the cost, they eventually landed in this suburb.

"We needed to get out," said Ms. Golliday, a 58-year-old teacher. "No one forced us to move—we...