Barriers to Integration in the Mississippi Delta: Could Charter Schools Be the New Vehicle for Desegregation?

Abstract

This study explored the barriers to educational integration in the rural Mississippi Delta region. In Delta County,1students have generally been divided between a black public school and an all white private academy. An earlier study (Eckes, 2005) revealed that white parents in Delta County chose not to send their students to the traditional public school because they perceived greater discipline problems, less challenging academics, and fewer extracurricular opportunities (“the barriers”). The black parents, however, were choosing not to send their children to the private academy because it did not, in fact, offer greater educational opportunity. Black parents contended that the three articulated barriers were actually euphemisms for racism. In this current case study, the researcher sought to learn whether a new high‐performing charter school, where the three barriers were not present, would encourage racial integration in Delta County. Specifically, the new public charter school offered parents a third option in addition to the private academy and public school. Through interviews and observations, the current case study explored whether the barriers articulated by white parents in the earlier study were simply rhetoric. The current study found that white parents were still not choosing the charter school, even though no barriers were present.