From integration to segregation: a case study history of T. Wingate Andrews high school, 1968–2008
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Greggory R. Slate (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Craig Peck
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to tell the story regarding the events and outcomes of T. Wingate Andrews High School, which was founded as an integrated high school in 1968 in High Point, North Carolina. The study captures the events of Andrews High School from the period prior to its creation, through the 1993 High Point City Schools’ merger with Guilford County Schools, until 2008 when Andrews High School had moved to segregated status. In my research, I considered primary source documents including school board meeting minutes, school district documents, and articles from local newspapers in order to examine plans, comments, and quotes from school board members, community members, and lobbying groups. Primary source documents were supplemented with secondary sources such as existing studies concerning the establishment of T. Wingate Andrews High School and High Point City Schools’ history. The findings of this study reveal how and why Andrews High School moved from an integrated high school that mirrored the demographics of High Point in 1968 to a segregated high school that was 90% students of color in 2008. Throughout the history of T. Wingate Andrews High School, the Boards of Education of High Point City Schools and the later merged Guilford County Schools attempted to prevent the school from becoming segregated but ultimately were unable to avert the tide. Four central themes emerged in the history. First, the establishment of T. Wingate Andrews as an integrated, newly built school was a unique attempt at desegregation in the South. In addition, the merger of two school systems promoted rather than prevented segregation, a development that differs from findings in existing scholarship. Third, the impact of race on the High Point community and its neighborhood schools resonated throughout the high school’s history. Finally, the good intentions represented in the two Board of Educations’ ongoing policy efforts that were meant to preserve integration at Andrews ultimately met with hard inevitabilities such as White flight, residential segregation, and community apathy. The story of T. Wingate Andrews High showed the necessary moral obligation of a progressive school board to fight to maintain integration. By continuing to make evident the struggle for equity and social justice in educational settings, the Guilford County Board of Education’s efforts in redistricting and policy were essential.
From integration to segregation: a case study history of T. Wingate Andrews high school, 1968–2008
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Created on 5/1/2017
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2017
- Keywords
- Integration, Resegregation, Segregation
- Subjects
- Discrimination in education $z North Carolina $z High Point
- Racism in education $z North Carolina $z High Point
- De facto school segregation $z North Carolina $z High Point
- Segregation in education $z North Carolina $z High Point
- School integration $z North Carolina $z High Point
- School choice $z North Carolina $z High Point