The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated AmericaNew York Times Bestseller • Notable Book of the Year • Editors' Choice Selection This “powerful and disturbing history” exposes how American governments deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide (New York Times Book Review). Widely heralded as a “masterful” (Washington Post) and “essential” (Slate) history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law offers “the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation” (William Julius Wilson). Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods. A groundbreaking, “virtually indispensable” study that has already transformed our understanding of twentieth-century urban history (Chicago Daily Observer), The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past. |
Contents
Own Your Own Home | |
Private Agreements Government Enforcement | |
White Flight | |
IRS Support and Compliant Regulators | |
Suppressed Incomes | |
Looking Forward Looking Back | |
Considering Fixes | |
Epilogue | |
Frequently Asked Questions | |
Authors Note and Acknowledgments | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
Other editions - View all
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Richard Rothstein No preview available - 2017 |
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Richard Rothstein No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
Administration adopted African American families African American neighborhoods African American population African Americans agency all-white Amendment banks black families California Chicago City civil rights construction County created decision deeds desegregation discrimination discriminatory district economic enforcement evicted Fair Housing Act federal government Federal Housing Administration FEPC Ford Frank Stevenson ghetto Hispanic homeowners homes Housing Authority included inclusionary zoning income industry Institute integrated jure segregation Levittown living Louis low-income Mereday metropolitan area middle-class Milpitas mortgages move National Negro owners percent Press prohibited property values public housing purchase race racial segregation real estate refused remedy rent residential segregation residents restrictive covenants Richmond Robert Rollingwood Roosevelt ruling San Francisco single-family Stuyvesant Town subdivision suburban suburbs Sunnyhills town U.S. Supreme Court union units University urban USCCR voucher white families white neighborhoods whites-only workers World War II York zoning ordinance