Atlanta civil rights histories overlooked working-class and middle-class whites’ central role
Evidence
The best current work is Bayor, Race and Atlanta. This account does an excellent job of examining the evolution of black political and economic power in the city, chronicling the many ways in which the city sought to contain black expansion, not just politically or socially but also physically, in the application of zoning ordinances, routing of roads and highways, and placement of public housing. In this sense, Bayor’s work provides an excellent examination of the intersection of race and public policy, detailing the interactions of civil rights leaders and the city’s white establishment quite well. However, it fails to go any deeper. Bayor focuses solely on the top levels of society—the white political and economic establishment and the leaders of the black community. Working-class and middle-class whites are almost completely ignored.
— Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 629
Categorization
XREF: This historiographic critique mirrors the book’s overall method difference from established top-down civil rights histories; connects to the reader’s project of tracking grass-roots ideological change. — connects to: Desegregation taught working-class whites that self-interest trumps community loyalty — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 191; Racial ideology in America concealed class divisions among whites — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 409; Racial ideology developed to obscure the true class origins of white laborers (+5 more)