Segregation Academies: The Impact of "Whites-Only" Private Schools

Danielle Graves Williamson

In the 1960s and 1970s, white parents responded to the desegregation of public schools by organizing all-white private schools. In their most extreme form, these "segregation academies" replicated and preserved the dual system of racially segregated education that existed prior to Brown v. Board of Education (1954). My research examines the impact of this emergent form of private schooling on public schools, students, and communities. I begin by describing the growth and geographic distribution of the segregation academy movement by constructing a comprehensive dataset that draws on historical records, contemporary newspaper articles, existing qualitative research, and sports schedules. I find that the establishment of a segregation academy led to a decline in public school enrollment, primarily driven by white students exiting the public system. I also investigate whether this shift in enrollment was accompanied by changes in public school funding and resource allocation. In collaboration with Jennifer Withrow, I explore the long-term consequences of these developments on school-aged individuals. Motivated by our short-term findings, we assess the long-run impacts on educational attainment, prime age income, and geographic mobility. In a separate chapter co-authored with Michael Holcomb, I examine how the entrenchment of segregated schooling influenced historical voting patterns and contemporary racial attitudes in the Southeast.

About Danielle Graves Williamson

Danielle Graves Williamson is a PhD candidate in economics at Boston University. She studies how policies and institutions have shaped access to opportunity, with a specific focus in her dissertation on quantifying the legacy of 20th century strategies to block school integration. She combines causal econometric methods with careful archival research and attention to historical context. Her work has been featured in ProPublica and has been supported by Boston University's Institute for Economic Development, the Economic History Association, and the Stone Program in Wealth Distribution, Inequality, and Social Policy. She has designed and taught a class on the economics of education and segregation. She grew up in Mobile, Alabama and holds a B.A. in economics with a minor in art from Vanderbilt University. She is happiest reading old newspapers, drawing, and spending time outside with her dog. In 2024, she served as a staff economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisers, where she focused on issues related to education, childcare, and health.