Introduction Why Study the South? The Origins of Urban Public School Systems Antebellum School Reform in the Port Cities of the Deep South Public Education in the New South: A School System for Atlanta, 1868-1879 The Origins of Urban Schools in Comparative Perspective The Politics of Southern School Reforms The Politics of Memphis School Reform, 1883-1927 Boss Behrman Reforms the Schools: The 1912 New Orleans School Reform Educational Reform and Organizational Change: Atlanta in the Progressive Era Progressive School Reform in Comparative Perspective Issues in Black School Politics Black School Politics in Atlanta, Georgia, 1869-1943 The Politics of Black Education in Memphis, Tennessee, 1868-1881 Two Worlds of Race? Urban Blacks and the Public Schools, North and South, 1865-1940 Bibliographic Essay Index