The Schooling of Southern Blacks: The Roles of Legal Activism and Private Philanthropy, 1910-1960

Posted: 27 Jun 2000

See all articles by John J. Donohue

John J. Donohue

Stanford Law School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

James J. Heckman

University of Chicago - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); American Bar Foundation; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Petra Todd

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: April 2000

Abstract

Improvements in education and educational quality are widely acknowledged to be major contributors to black economic progress in the Twentieth Century. This paper investigates the sources of improvement in black education in the South in the first half of the century and demonstrates the important roles of social activism, especially NAACP litigation and private philanthropy, in improving the quality and availability of public schooling. Many scholars view education as a rival to social activism in explaining black economic progress, but such a view misses the important role of philanthropic and legal interventions in promoting education.

JEL Classification: I29

Suggested Citation

Donohue, John J. and Heckman, James J. and Todd, Petra, Social Action, Private Choice, and Philanthropy: Understanding the Sources of Improvements in Black Schooling in Georgia, 1911-1960 (December 1997). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=56284

John J. Donohue (Contact Author)

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James J. Heckman

University of Chicago - Department of Economics ( email )

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CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

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Petra Todd

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Germany

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