This article considers the role of private schools in an assessment of segregation in K-12 schools, with special reference to the South. It presents evidence to support two main conclusions. First, private schools have grown in importance in the South since 1960, in contrast to their declining importance in the rest of the country. This contrary…

This essay describes significant legal and policy system changes in America's 50-year crusade to curtail or eliminate racially segregated public school. In hindsight, a more forceful initial policy system stance regarding judicial enforcement might well have resulted in greater desegregation success. However, after 5 decades of judicial and…