Overview
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.
Video
Part 2: Dr. Kruse explores how segregationist used "freedom of association" as a defense of segregated schools in Atlanta
Part 3: Dr. Kruse discusses resistance to desegregation via Atlanta School Board's "freedom of choice" plan and white flight
Part 4: Dr. Kruse outlines the growth of religiously affiliated private schools as a refuge for segregationists in Atlanta
Part 5: Dr. Kruse explores continued white flight from public schools and the city in the form of "suburban secessionism"
Excerpts from Question and Answer Session
Part 2: Dr. Kruse compares engagement with issues of desegregation amongst Atlanta's black population and northern cities
Part 3: Dr. Kruse contrasts Atlanta with Charlotte, NC, focusing on state laws regarding the expansion of city limits
Part 4: Dr. Kruse traces the rise of southern suburban Republican power in the 1990s as an expression of privatized white flight
Part 5: Dr. Kruse discusses a current wave of white flight from increasingly racially mixed Atlanta suburbs to whiter exurbs
Part 6: Dr. Kruse explores how many white voters refuse to support bond issues for public spaces that would desegregate the city
About the Presenter
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 PhD 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.
Recommended Resources
Maps
| Overview Map of Atlanta | |
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| Black Population: Atlanta and Vicinity, 1940 | |
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| Black Population: Atlanta and Vicinity, 1960 | |
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Brattain, Michelle. The Politics of Whiteness: Race, Workers, and Culture in the Modern South. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Dudziak Mary L. Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Keating, Larry. Atlanta: Race, Class and Urban Expansion. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.
Kruse, Kevin. White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005.
McGirr, Lisa. Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Pomerantz, Gary M. Where Peachtre Meets Sweet Auburn. New York: Scribner, 1996.
Stone, Clarence N. Regime Politics: Governing Atlanta, 1946-1988. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1989.
