Disappearing the Delta? How School Closures Shape Rural Black Communities in the Arkansas Delta

• In Event: Spatial and Temporal Dimensions of Black Student, Family, and Faculty Experiences

Abstract

This ethnographic study investigates the effects of school closure on rural Black Delta communities. Arkansas’s Act 60 led to the closure of 111 schools, with the largest impacts on rural and Black communities. Not only does closure lead to long bus rides, diminished extracurricular participation, and limited family involvement, it also reduces local employment, closes businesses, and furthers outmigration. Residents describe these closures much like those that accompanied desegregation: a powerful blow to Black community well-being and self-determination. At the same time, they resist closure and its effects in a variety of ways: organizing, developing leaders, and changing policy. Adding to current understandings of the production of spatial injustice (Soja, 2010), this study points to opportunities for more equitable policymaking.

Author

• Mara C. Tieken, Bates College