Ordinary segregationists, not politicians, sustained flexible white resistance

Evidence

If we shift our attention away from politicians and focus on the lives of ordinary segregationists, the flexibility and continuity of white resistance becomes clear. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 29

Categorization

• DEFINE: Signals the study’s grass-roots methodological focus, shifting from elite politics to ordinary actors.
• XREF: connects to: The anti-busing movement mobilized white suburban middle-class moderates, not just ideologues. — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 68; Working-class whites greeted open fascist segregationism with mass enthusiasm. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 117; Defeated homeowner groups still seeded a citywide white resistance politics — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 140 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Excluded whites reframed their segregationism as a defense of beleaguered rights #expands (0.82) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 102
• Segregationists understood resistance as defending their own rights and freedoms #expands (0.80) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 31
• White homeowners performed community solidarity as a defensive strategy against desegregation #exemplifies (0.78) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 190
• White segregationists rhetorically reframed racial exclusion as protection of community integrity #expands (0.76) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 193
• Successful anti-racist movements trigger renewed, subtler forms of racial exclusion, not elimination #qualifies (0.74) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1915
• Intransigent white resisters destroyed compromise efforts and sped neighborhood transition #complicates (0.72) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 221