Disenchantment to Disillusion: Stakeholder opinions on school desegregation in Greensboro, North Carolina

Abstract

Amid the current resegregation of the nation's schools this dissertation extends previous research regarding the impact, success, and failure of desegregation efforts following Brown v. Board of Education. This study broadly examines individual opinions on school desegregation over the last forty years. Thus, the current study presents the research question: What are stakeholder opinions on school desegregation in the post desegregation era? This study extends previous research by examining generational changes in individuals' experiences and perceptions of desegregation efforts in Greensboro, North Carolina between 1970 and 1990. Additionally, the study explores individuals' experiences in the 2000s during increasing resegregation. As an urban, Southern city with historical significance in the Civil Rights Movement, Greensboro represents an ideal setting for understanding changing experiences and opinions of school desegregation over a forty-year period. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed as generational cohorts thus examining group opinions and experiences of stakeholders through the collection of individual data. The findings of this study show that both black and white participants from all three generational cohorts reject a return to mandatory desegregation efforts including busing. Additionally, the results of this study indicate similar opinions concerning school quality from stakeholders in the earlier cohorts but a disconnect in perceptions and opinions of recent high school graduates. Thus, the findings of this study demonstrate the contradictory perceptions of school quality by black and white graduates of recent generations and calls for an examination of both school district policies related to school assignment, racial makeup and school finance and broader societal issues related to housing policies, economic and social equality initiatives.