By the middle of February, 1935, the maelstrom of publicity that greeted the Lomaxes and Ledbetter at the start of the year is waning. Hoping to raise some attention and funds, John Lomax plans an ambitious performing tour of upstate New York. His relationship with Ledbetter reaches a breaking point, however, with Lomax claiming to be in fear for his life. By the end of March, the Ledbetters are boarding a bus for Shreveport. But Lomax’s need to control Ledbetter continues, leading Huddie and Martha to suspect that they are being cheated. A battle between lawyers representing the Ledbetters and John Lomax ensues, and is not fully resolved for two years.

The concluding chapter provides a summary of the results reported in the previous chapters, emphasizing the overall preferences in favor of racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic diversity and the broad consensus around these preferences across groups of participants. The chapter then reviews scholarship on how diversity affects campus communities and individual students and faculty, emphasizing that effects at the community level are widely regarded to be positive whereas deeper debates surround impact at the individual level. The chapter concludes by considering current challenges to affirmative action in college admissions in the courts and from those arguing for diversity of viewpoints rather than demographics.