City Limits on Racial Equality: The Effects of City-Suburb Boundaries on Public-School Desegregation, 1968-1976

This research examines the determinants of public-school segregation in 65 metropolitan areas in 1968 and segregation changes between 1968 and 1976. Models for central-city and suburban public schools permit estimation of the segregative effects that one system exerts on an adjacent system. In 1968, higher black proportions in cities enhanced segregation in suburbs, and higher proportions in suburbs promoted segregation in cities. Although city and suburban school segregation declined during the 1970s, segregation between cities and suburbs increased. Higher black proportions in cities put segregative pressure on their suburbs. The historic link between residential and public-school segregation was broken in southern but not in northern cities nor the suburbs of either region. Private-school utilization by whites had segregative effects on southern city systems, but not elsewhere. The boundaries between city and suburban school systems appear to foster racial inequalities within those systems as class theories predict.