Winston-Salem is one of a few cities highlighted in a new book exploring segregation tactics beyond redlining in the South called “Good Parents, Better Homes & Great Schools: Selling Segregation before the New Deal.”
The author, Elmhurst University history professor Karen Benjamin, gave a talk about her findings at Knollwood Baptist Church on Tuesday afternoon.
She explained how white developers in Winston-Salem, some of whom also sat on the board of education, strategically placed schools in certain neighborhoods to entice white families to buy homes there.
“The schools were so effective at sorting people — that voluntary segregation, Winston-Salem idea— that Raleigh was like, ‘Oh,’" Benjamin said. "That's how I found out about it. I was researching Raleigh. I saw it in the Raleigh paper, ‘Winston-Salem, you know, solves race problems.'”
Advertisements for the Buena Vista neighborhood, for example, sent a message that good parents would move their families into these “protected” neighborhoods with "superior" schools. And it proved to be an effective segregation strategy.
Data shows many schools still remain highly segregated in Winston-Salem.