The silent majority

About this book

"In The Silent Majority, Matthew Lassiter provides the first regionwide account of the suburbanization of the South from the perpsective of corporate leaders, political activists, and especially of ordinary families who lived in booming Sunbelt metropolises such as Atlanta, Charlotte, and Richmond. This book examines crucial battles over racial integration, court-ordered busing, and housing segregation to explain how the South moved from the era of Jim Crow fully into the mainstream of national currents." "The Silent Majority traces the emergence of a "color-blind" ideology in the white middle-class suburbs that defended residential segregation and neighborhood schools as the natural outcomes of market forces and individual meritocracy rather than the unconstitutional products of discriminatory public policies. Lassiter rejects the framework of southern distinctiveness and the conventional wisdom that Republican growth in the region resulted primarily from a top-down, race-driven "Southern Strategy."" "The Silent Majority is critical reading for those interested in urban and suburban studies, political and social history, the civil rights movement, public policy, and the intersection of race and class in modern America."--Jacket.