Public opinion, race, and levels of desegregation in five Southern school districts.

Many of the nation's school systems that were once desegregated have resegregated by race and socioeconomic status-some more so than others. We investigate the relationship between public opinion about school diversity and levels of resegregation in five Southern school districts with varying amounts of resegregation: Charlotte, NC; Louisville, KY; Nashville, TN; Raleigh, NC; and Rock Hill, SC. Drawing upon case studies of the five districts and a unique public opinion dataset of over 5000 respondents, we find the relationship between attitudes toward diverse education and levels of desegregation strengthens when we control for respondents' race.