Church-affiliated private schools outlasted public schools as refuges of segregation

Evidence

With such incentives to stay segregated, Lovett did so for several years. And with equal determination, ESCRU maintained its protests against Lovett. Each year, they picketed the baccalaureate services held at the Cathedral of St. Philip. Instead of slowly fading away, their protests became more intense over time. In 1966 two clergymen fasted on the cathedral’s lawns for a week before the ceremony. Their protest attracted a good deal of national attention and, fittingly, a personal appearance by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose son’s application had sparked the controversy years before. “It is quite interesting, I think, to mention that the public schools have had some form of integration for the last four years in Atlanta, and yet we find a church-related school still holding out and refusing to integrate,” Dr. King noted. “This is another example of the fact that the Church can be, if it is not careful, the tail-light instead of the headlight in our society; and it would be tragic, indeed, if the Church turns out to be the last bulwark of segregated power.” — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 405

Categorization

• XREF: King’s ‘tail-light instead of headlight’ image of the church — private religious schools as the last refuge of segregation — parallels the frame of my sacrifice/church analysis. — connects to: Religious schools that preached integration privately remained segregated by class and race — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 394; Respectable private schools, not segregation academies, preserved segregation longest — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 393; School vouchers originated as subsidies for segregated white religious academies — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 752 (+3 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Religious schools that preached integration privately remained segregated by class and race #qualifies (0.85) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 394
• Respectable private schools, not segregation academies, preserved segregation longest #qualifies (0.80) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 393
• School vouchers originated as subsidies for segregated white religious academies #expands (0.80) — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 752
• Parental authority arguments let evangelicals defend segregated schools without defending segregation #expands (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 92