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xi Acknowledgments Throughout the process of writing this book, I have wrestled with the dilemma of knowing that I had more stories to tell than any reasonable editor would permit. Nowhere is that more true than in the acknowledgments . These few paragraphs can only begin to convey my gratitude for the many people who have helped with what has truly been a collaborative effort.This book’s merits rest on countless shoulders; its shortcomings rest on mine alone. Several institutions and organizations provided critical financial assistance . I was especially lucky to have the support of a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. In addition to generous stipends, both of these fellowships provided invaluable opportunities to discuss my project with senior and beginning scholars from across the disciplines. Many thanks to James Anderson, Karen Benjamin, Elizabeth Cascio, Michael Clapper, Ruben Flores, Adam Gamoran, Maureen Hallinan, Carl Kaestle, Adam Laats, Dan Lewis, Nancy MacLean,William Reese, Bethany Rogers, Sarah Rose, John Rury, Margaret Beale Spencer, Maris Vinovskis, and Heather Williams for their collegiality and compelling critiques. How fortuitous it was for me that my initial Spencer cohort included Heather Williams and that she subsequently moved to Chapel Hill, where she has inspired me with her work and cheered me with her encouragement. I was also generously assisted by both a Small and Large Mowry Grant from the University of North Carolina History Department, a Latané Interdisciplinary Summer Research Grant from the unc Graduate School, an Archie K. Davis Grant from the North Caroliniana Society, an Albert J. Beveridge Grant from the American Historical Association, and summer research grants from unc’s Center for the Study of the American South and the Rockefeller Archive Center in Tarrytown, New York. My greatest intellectual debts are to my mentors. At the University of North Carolina, my adviser, James Leloudis, gave me the idea for this project and urged me to dig into the papers of North Carolina’s Division of Negro Education. I used his scholarship on southern schools as a critical foundation for my work. Even more important, I first became inspired xii / AcknowledgmentS to pursue a career in history during a college seminar with him. For his early and unwavering confidence in me, as well as his careful reading of many drafts and his countless words of encouragement, I owe him a world of thanks. Jacquelyn Hall has mentored hundreds of students at unc, but she has the remarkable ability to make each one of us feel at the center of her universe. I am so thankful for her thoughtful reflections on my work, her lessons in the value of oral history, and her many gestures of support and friendship. Several other mentors read this book in its formative stages and merit special thanks: Jerma Jackson, for always asking the toughest questions and for sharing her boundless enthusiasm; Walter Jackson, for steering me to new sources with his encyclopedic command of intellectual and southern history; and Kenneth Janken, for challenging me since my undergraduate days to think critically about the southern past from an African American perspective. Donald Mathews offered cheerful guidance as I designed an early research proposal. A memorable seminar with Robert Korstad at Duke University immersed me in intellectual literature about life “behind the veil.” For my early training in American history, I am grateful to William Barney, Peter Coclanis, John Kasson, William Leuchtenburg, John Nelson, and Harry Watson. In this book’s early stages, I was quite fortunate to be in writing groups with Melynn Glusman, David Sartorius, Brian Steele, Michele Strong, and David Voelker. I benefited enormously from their friendship and detailed observations. David Sartorius’s work on race and loyalty in Cuba was particularly influential in my development of chapter 1. Karin Breuer also served at various moments as a writing companion and has been a consistent source of wit and wisdom. David Cecelski, William Chafe, and Jerry Gershenhorn graciously gave of their time and read portions of this book. Their collective wisdom on race and education in the South prompted me to ask fresh questions of familiar material. Karl Campbell, Pamela Grundy, Lydia Claire, Malinda Maynor Lowery, and Ken Zogry shared ideas from allied projects. James Anderson, Prudence Cumberbatch, V. P. Franklin, Valinda Littlefield, and Kate Rousmaniere offered helpful comments on related conference papers. AnneWhisnant was my resident expert on all matters of book production and child rearing (and how to combine the two). Since beginning this project...

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