Press Release

Harvard Study Finds that More Than 70% of Southern Black and Latino Students Attend Segregated Minority Schools

New Book Discusses Consequences of School Resegregation in the South

September 7 – With more than 70% of Black and Latino students in the South attending predominately minority schools, and with severe segregation and inequality reflected in the extraordinary dropout rates in segregated high schools, new data signal a trend backwards to the 1960s before widespread busing began for desegregation. Even states like Florida, North Carolina and Delaware where stable metropolitan desegregation plans existed for three decades are now rapidly resegregating, according to a new study released by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (CRP). The study documents the southern and border states where segregation is most severe, demonstrating the multi-racial nature of segregation in the South. It evaluates the change in segregation levels in the South since the legal burden for many districts was relaxed.

A new book, School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back?, being released today by the University of North Carolina Press presents groundbreaking original research from scholars around the country on the causes, consequences and potential solutions to this trend in various areas in the South.

The significance of these trends cannot be ignored, according to Jack Boger, co-editor of School Resegregation and deputy director of The UNC School of Law’s Center for Civil Rights.

“Unless the federal courts uphold the constitutionality of voluntary diversity plans in K-12 public schooling, and unless Southern leaders act decisively to assure that their schools remain diverse, many of the positive economic, social , and political gains experienced in the past thirty years will be jeopardized by the new segregation of southern schools.”

“The South, more than any other region, should reflect on its tragic history of segregation and the terrible risk of losing the gains of the Civil Rights revolution. In this test-obsessed era, the fact that all of the negative results related to segregation are being swept under the rug is distressing,” stated Gary Orfield, co-editor of School Resegregation and director of The Civil Rights Project.

At this critical moment when advocates, teachers, government officials, lawyers and others are deciding the best course of action for tackling the rapid resegregation trend, School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back? offers a much needed analysis of the situation, the legal landscape and consequences if we as a nation choose to do nothing about these trends.

“This important book provides both good news and bad news…Given that our society is increasingly diverse, students who attend racially isolated schools will be increasingly disadvantaged – regardless of the color of their skin,” stated Willis Hawley, professor emeritus, University of Maryland.

A press briefing on School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back? and the new Harvard study will be held at The Southern Education Foundation in Atlanta, GA on Wednesday, September 7 from 9:30-11:00 am.

For more details, please visit http://www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/registration/reseg05.php.

Press Contacts:

Erica Frankenberg
The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University;
Tel. No. 617-496-4753

The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (CRP), founded in 1996, is a leading, national organization devoted to research and policy analysis about critical civil rights issues facing the nation. Its mission is to bridge the worlds of ideas and action by becoming a preeminent source of intellectual capital and a forum for building consensus within the civil rights movement. We achieve this by interweaving strategies of research and policy analysis, and by building strong collaborations between researchers, community organizations, lawyers and policy makers. Our dual objectives are to: (1) raise the visibility of, and attention to, racial justice national policy debates; and (2) arm local and national civil rights and educational organizations with credible research to inform their legal, political and public education efforts.

The UNC Center for Civil Rights is committed to the advancement of civil rights and social justice, especially in the American South. It fosters empirical and analytical research, sponsors student inquiry and activities and convenes faculty, visiting scholars, policy advocates and practicing attorneys to confront legal and social issues of greatest concern to racial and ethnic minorities, to the poor and to other potential beneficiaries of civil rights advances. The Center's work focuses on education, economic justice, housing and community development and voting rights.

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