How Desegregation Changed Us The Effects of Racially strongMixedstrong.pdf

How Desegregation Changed Us: The Effects of Racially Mixed Schools on Students and Society A Study of Desegregated High Schools and Their Class of 1980 Graduates Teachers College, Columbia University University of California at Los Angeles By Amy Stuart Wells, Jennifer Jellison Holme, Anita Tijerina Revilla, and Awo Korantemaa Atanda This report is drawn from our forthcoming book, In Search of Brown, to be published by Harvard University Press in 2005. Acknowledgements This study would not have been possible without the generous support of the Spencer Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. While we are greatly indebted to each of them for their faith in us to carry out this timely and important research, the arguments stated herein are entirely ours, based on our five years of interviews, document collection, and analysis, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundations. Over the life of this study, our research team has changed as some researchers signed on, and others began new pursuits. The findings presented on the following pages would not have emerged without the dedication of several research associates who are no longer part of this project. Amina Humphrey, Alejandra Lopez, Janelle Scott, Jolena James, and Camille Wilson Cooper all influenced this study in significant ways. We are grateful for their contributions and know that our work would have been far less insightful had we not had the opportunity to work with each of them. Any study comprising nearly 550 interviews with more than 500 people relies heavily on tape transcription. We have benefited greatly from the talents of Linda Roehmholdt, Annie Petrossian, Julianne Phillips, Yuvetta Robinson, Johan