White Flight and School Choice: Geospatial Distinctions in an American Metropolis, 1960–1980

• In Event: 14.018 - Educational Policy and Its Implications for School Choice, Access, and Curriculum

Abstract

This paper examines the process of “white flight” from the Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD) during the decades of the 1960s and 70s, and the construction of barriers to African American movement in the same time frame. It utilizes data on the movement of pupils from four inner city secondary schools over a twenty year period to map white flight. The study of barriers to African American settlement relies upon oral history interviews and documentary evidence from other sources. Both of these mechanisms, white “choice” of movement to better schools and restrictions on black movement, are critical to understanding the racial and social class configuration of metropolitan Kansas City today

Author

• John L. Rury, The University of Kansas