Commentators Look Back Pt. 2 Prince George's County, Md.

In this installment of The Changing Face of America, commentator Leon Wynter revisits Prince George's County in Maryland, where he began his career. This is the second piece in three days of stories about writers returning to locales they once knew.

Wynter receives a plaque of appreciation for his journalistic contributions to the P.G. County Board of Education, March 29, 1984. Photos courtesy Leon Wynter. A farewell letter to Wynter from then-County Executive Parris Glendenning. May 3, 1984.

Writer Leon Wynter, author of the forthcoming book, Dreaming in Color: The Business of Browning America, takes us on a tour of present-day Prince George's County. On the eastern flank of the nation's capital, it is the nation's only black-majority suburban county. It's more wealthy than it was 20 years ago, when Wynter was there as a cub reporter and the county was mostly white.

Upper middle-class blacks migrated there from the District of Columbia and contributed to the eventual rise in income in Prince George's County, but the county battles an image as has an underdog. Some county leaders believe race plays a part in that. No major upscale malls are located there, although income levels would support them, creating a new dilemma and cause for African Americans.

 Join Leon Wynter as he revisits Prince George's County.

Get a closer look at Wynter's farewell letter from Parris Glendenning.

Part One: Commentators David Greenberger and Andrei Codrescu revisit Erie, Pennsylvania, and San Francisco, California.

Part Three: Writer Patricia Presiado Martin returns to Tucson, Arizona.

The Changing Face of America is an 18-month-long NPR series that tells the stories of regular, everyday Americans and the issues they face at a time of rapid and dramatic change in the U.S. This special series can be heard on NPR's Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

The Changing Face of America series is sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts.