Southern Academies: The Proliferation of All-White Private Schools after Brown and Their Legacy for Students (Poster 34)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Friday 11:45am
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

We document White backlash to the public school integration. Segregationists responded to Brown by establishing all-White private academies. We compile new data on the growth of these segregation academies, identifying over 650 schools established in the 1960s and 70s across the Southeastern United States. We estimate that the establishment of a segregation academy caused large and persistent declines in White public school enrollment and eroded local and state education funding. To measure the long-run impacts on educational attainment and employment, we use large-scale restricted survey and administrative data along with variation in access to academies based on birth year and birth county. We find negative effects on White students, suggesting White families may have sacrificed educational quality to maintain racial segregation.

Author

• Danielle Williamson, Boston University