white flight

[hwahyt flahyt, wahyt]

noun

1. the movement of white people, especially middle-class and affluent white people, from urban neighborhoods undergoing racial integration to the suburbs.

white flight

noun

1. the departure of White residents from areas where non-White people are settling

Word History and Origins

Origin of white flight¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

It was the lasting effects of losing so much tax revenue to a neighboring suburb due to white flight.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She was eventually hired by Compton Unified in 1967 and began an 17-year career as a social studies teacher in a school system that, at the time, had become nearly all-Black as a result of white flight.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

How he grew up in an era of “Jaime Crow” and how white flight happened “almost overnight.”

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An American representative told the men at the time that the complaint had come from a white flight attendant.

Read more on New York Times

Ironically, in my role as a chapter leader for Integrated Schools, I’ve counseled many children of white flight who regret their parents’ choices and are now choosing to send their own kids to racially integrated public schools.

Read more on Seattle Times