Race and Equality in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools since desegregation (2014)

Undergraduate: Grace Tatter

Faculty Advisor: James Leloudis
Department: History

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My research question is, How have the tensions over how have tensions over racial equity in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools evolved since the 1960s? Through oral histories, school board minutes, and newspaper records, I examined the discussion surrounding race during the desegregation era, the 1990s, and the 2000s. I found that since desegregation, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools repeatedly promoted the status quo, in which white students were the most successful. National trends of individualism, meritocracy, and colorblindness have hindered the recognition of racism in Chapel Hill and equity in the schools. Only in moments when the school system acknowledged institutionalized racism did it move closer to racial equity. In the first chapter, I explore how desegregation of schools in Chapel Hill privileged the experiences and customs of white students and parents, laying the groundwork for later dissatisfaction. In the final two chapters, I describe how gifted programming was often a flashpoint for racial tension, as gifted classrooms were disproportionately white, and the efforts of school district administrators to correct resources imbalances between white and black students. A Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill funded this research.