"At a most uncomfortable speed": The desegregation of the South's private universities, 1945--1964

dc.contributor.advisorBoles, John B.en_US
dc.creatorKean, Melissa Fitzsimonsen_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-04T06:58:10Zen_US
dc.date.available2009-06-04T06:58:10Zen_US
dc.date.issued2000en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation traces the debate about desegregation on the campuses of five elite private universities in the South from the end of World War II to the early 1960s. The presidents of Duke, Emory, Rice, Tulane, and Vanderbilt, charged with leading these schools to national prominence, quickly grasped that postwar realities---including pressure from federal grantmakers and national philanthropic foundations---would require some measure of racial change if the schools were to advance. In the interest of progress the presidents were willing to accept limited participation by "exceptional" blacks in the life of the university. The critical issue in their eyes was who would control the process of racial change. While acknowledging, some more grudgingly than others, that "outside" pressure for desegregation should be heeded, the presidents insisted that the pace and manner of loosening racial restrictions must remain the decisions of educated southern whites. Many powerful trustees and alumni staunchly opposed even this. These traditionalists strongly defended southern racial customs and fought any attempts to alter them for any reason, even the advancement of the schools they served. With varying degrees of energy and success, the presidents mediated between the proponents of progress and tradition, trying to avoid open conflict while gradually improving each school's academic quality. Only Vanderbilt took steps towards opening admissions, allowing black graduate students to enroll in its School of Religion beginning in 1953. The debate over the place of talented blacks on these campuses remained subdued until 1954, when Brown v. Board of Education and the growing grass-roots civil rights movement brought increased turmoil to the South. Although many trustees vowed not to bend to this pressure, the costs of maintaining segregation on campus became too high to bear. By the early 1960s, snowballing loss of faculty, student discontent, and above all, the threat of a funding cut-off by the federal government and the foundations led all these schools to abandon segregated admissions policies.en_US
dc.format.extent462 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS HIST. 2000 KEANen_US
dc.identifier.citationKean, Melissa Fitzsimons. ""At a most uncomfortable speed": The desegregation of the South's private universities, 1945--1964." (2000) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/19521">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/19521</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/19521en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectAmerican historyen_US
dc.subjectHistory of educationen_US
dc.subjectHigher educationen_US
dc.title"At a most uncomfortable speed": The desegregation of the South's private universities, 1945--1964en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentHistoryen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineHumanitiesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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