Kevin Kruse, White Flight: The Strategies, Ideology, and Legacy of Segregationists in Atlanta

On November 3, 2005, Dr. Kevin Kruse of Princeton University's History Department spoke at Emory University about several themes developed in his book White Flight (2005), a study of segregationists' strategies and ideologies in Atlanta. White Flight argues that the movement of whites out of southern cities from the 1940s through the 1970s was part of a broader political withdrawal prompted by the civil rights movement, and that the roots of modern southern conservatism can be found in this confrontation.

Kruse discusses Atlanta's reputation for "moderation" in race relations in the 1950s and 1960s. Public school desegregation in the city in 1961 arrived with a lack of violence unusual in the South. Atlanta's segregationists articulated new rationales for white resistance and white supremacy. What were "segregationists' rights?" How did Atlanta segregationists understand themselves? How did they justify racial discrimination? How did "freedom of association" become a segregationist rallying cry?

Maps: Black Population: Atlanta and Vicinity, 1940-1970

White Atlantans used "freedom of association" as a defense of segregated schools. Georgia segregationist politicians adopted the "freedom of association" strategy.

White parents used "freedom of association" as a means to escape the looming deadline of August 1961 for Atlanta school desegregation. The city's school board, fearing white flight, proposed a "freedom of choice" plan that made it difficult for black students to transfer to white schools. In 1964, the Atlanta School Board, responding to federal court rulings, increased the pace of desegregation. White parents quickly withdrew their children as formerly white schools integrated.

White flight. The rapid growth of Atlanta private schools as a refuge for segregationists. Many private academies with religious affiliations which had once counseled acceptance of desegregation found it hard to practice what they had been preaching. Kruse examines the response of Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians; The King family and the "Lovett Crisis."

Throughout the 1960s, whites increasingly abandoned the Atlanta public schools. A 1973 "compromise" failed to stem the white flight, both from the schools and from the city. White "suburban secessionism" in the name of the "right of association" defined the growth of counties such as Cobb and Gwinnett.

Excerpts from Question and Answer Session:

A new generation of the Republican Party seizes upon the politics of suburban secession.

Alanta's black population dynamic and the earlier engagement with issues of desegregation there as compared with northern cities.

State laws regarding the expansion of city limits affect white school flight. Atlanta contrasted with Charlotte, North Carolina.

The emergence of southern suburban Republican power in the U.S. Congress in the 1990s as an expression of privatized white flight.

A second wave of white flight now taking place from the increasingly racially mixed Atlanta suburbs to the whiter exurbs.

As public spaces desegregate in the city, and later in the suburbs, many white voters, refuse to support bond issues for parks, golf courses, recreational facilities.

Kevin Kruse is a scholar of the political, social, and urban/suburban history of twentieth century America with particular interest in the making of modern conservatism. Focused on conflicts over race, rights, and religion, he also studies the postwar South and modern suburbia. Raised in Nashville, Tennessee, he attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, graduating in 1994. He earned a Ph.D. in history at Cornell University in 2000 and joined the Princeton History Department the same year. His first book, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism (2005), argues that the movement of whites out of southern cities from the 1940s through the 1970s was part of a broader political withdrawal prompted by the civil rights movement, and that the roots of modern southern conservatism can be found in this confrontation. He is coeditor with Thomas Sugrue of The New Suburban History (2005), an innovative collection looking at the history of postwar suburbia in America. Currently, Professor Kruse is working on a new book on the origins of the Religious Right in American politics, from the 1950s through the 1980s.

	Part 1 (5:30 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime Kruse discusses Atlanta's reputation for "moderation" in race relations in the 1950s and 1960s. Public school desegregation in the city in 1961 arrived with a lack of violence unusual in the South. Atlanta's segregationists articulated new rationales for white resistance and white supremacy. What were "segregationists' rights?" How did Atlanta segregationists understand themselves? How did they justify racial discrimination? How did "freedom of association" become a segregationist rallying cry? Maps: Black Population: Atlanta and Vicinity, 1940-1970
Part 2 (2:32 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	White Atlantans used "freedom of association" as a defense of segregated schools. Georgia segregationist politicians adopted the "freedom of association" strategy.
Part 3 (5:52 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	White parents used "freedom of association" as a means to escape the looming deadline of August 1961 for Atlanta school desegregation. The city's school board, fearing white flight, proposed a "freedom of choice" plan that made it difficult for black students to transfer to white schools. In 1964, the Atlanta School Board, responding to federal court rulings, increased the pace of desegregation. White parents quickly withdrew their children as formerly white schools integrated.
Part 4 (8:25 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	White flight. The rapid growth of Atlanta private schools as a refuge for segregationists. Many private academies with religious affiliations which had once counseled acceptance of desegregation found it hard to practice what they had been preaching. Kruse examines the response of Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians; The King family and the "Lovett Crisis."
Part 5 (6:00 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	Throughout the 1960s, whites increasingly abandoned the Atlanta public schools. A 1973 "compromise" failed to stem the white flight, both from the schools and from the city. White "suburban secessionism" in the name of the "right of association" defined the growth of counties such as Cobb and Gwinnett.

Part 1 (1:30 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	A new generation of the Republican Party seizes upon the politics of suburban secession.
Part 2 (1:10 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	Alanta's black population dynamic and the earlier engagement with issues of desegregation there as compared with northern cities.
Part 3 (1:43 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	State laws regarding the expansion of city limits affect white school flight. Atlanta contrasted with Charlotte, North Carolina.
Part 4 (1:20 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	The emergence of southern suburban Republican power in the U.S. Congress in the 1990s as an expression of privatized white flight.
Part 5 (1:53 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	A second wave of white flight now taking place from the increasingly racially mixed Atlanta suburbs to the whiter exurbs.
Part 6 (1:25 min.) RealMedia \| Windows Media \| QuickTime	As public spaces desegregate in the city, and later in the suburbs, many white voters, refuse to support bond issues for parks, golf courses, recreational facilities.