Schooling and Political Activism in the Early Civil Rights Era

Daniel Aaronson, Mark Borgschulte, Sunny Liu and Bhashkar Mazumder

No 35842, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Does education lead to political activity? We find that a large, early 20th century school construction program, the Rosenwald schools, led to more NAACP branches in the rural South starting in the early 1940s, i.e. prior to the classic U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Branch growth was stronger where Jim Crow occupational segregation prevented Black men from realizing some of the economic gains of their education. Our findings lend support to theories emphasizing that economic context can act as a critical mediator in determining whether human capital causes political engagement.

JEL-codes: I20 J71 N32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-his, nep-lma, nep-pke and nep-pol
Note: CH DAE LS POL
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Working Paper: Schooling and Political Activism in the Early Civil Rights Era (2024)
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