white flight

English

Etymology

Attested since 1954. Note that state laws enforcing racial segregation in schools were ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education the same year.

Noun

white flight (uncountable)

1. (US, urban studies) The large-scale migration of white people from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions.

   Coordinate term: black flight

   • 1954 July, Ann O'Reilly, “World Citizen Starts on His Block”, in Catholic Interracialist‎^[1], volume 14, number 3, page 3:

     The [Hyde Park-Kenwood Community] Conference was formed in an attempt to stop panic-inspiring rumors and "white flight," and so to work for an integrated, peaceful community.

   • 1988, Richard D. Mohr, Gays/Justice: A Study of Ethics, Society, and Law‎^[2], →ISBN, page 193:

     This is illegitimate, since it is only the current bigotry in the society that causes property values to drop—as the result of white flight and the subsequent reduction in the size of the purchasing market.

   • 2021 May 22, “What It Means to be an American”, in The Economist Magazine‎^[3], volume 439, number 9246, page 7:

     Mr [Bob] Kroll grew up in a blue-collar, union family in the city centre but moved out, one more case of white flight.