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The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by [Richard Rothstein]

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Richard Rothstein

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Kindle Edition

by Richard Rothstein (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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New York Times Bestseller • Notable Book of the Year • Editors' Choice Selection

One of Bill Gates’ “Amazing Books” of the Year

One of Publishers Weekly’s 10 Best Books of the Year

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction

An NPR Best Book of the Year

Winner of the Hillman Prize for Nonfiction

Gold Winner • California Book Award (Nonfiction)

Finalist • Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History)

Finalist • Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize

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.

Print length

370 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Liveright
Publication date

May 2, 2017
File size

25415 KB
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

The core argument of this book is that African Americans were unconstitutionally denied the means and the right to integration in middle-class neighborhoods, and because this denial was state-sponsored, the nation is obligated to remedy it.
5,295 Kindle readers highlighted this
Segregation by intentional government action is not de facto. Rather, it is what courts call de jure: segregation by law and public policy.
4,173 Kindle readers highlighted this
All this has some truth, but it remains a small part of the truth, submerged by a far more important one: until the last quarter of the twentieth century, racially explicit policies of federal, state, and local governments defined where whites and African Americans should live.
4,057 Kindle readers highlighted this

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A powerful and disturbing history of residential segregation in America . . . One of the great strengths of Rothstein’s account is the sheer weight of evidence he marshals. . . . While the road forward is far from clear, there is no better history of this troubled journey than ‘The Color of Law.’"
― David Oshinsky, New York Times Book Review

"Masterful…The Rothstein book gathers meticulous research showing how governments at all levels long employed racially discriminatory policies to deny blacks the opportunity to live in neighborhoods with jobs, good schools and upward mobility."
― Jared Bernstein, Washington Post

"Essential…Rothstein persuasively debunks many contemporary myths about racial discrimination….Only when Americans learn a common―and accurate―history of our nation’s racial divisions, he contends, will we then be able to consider steps to fulfill our legal and moral obligations. For the rest of us, still trying to work past 40 years of misinformation, there might not be a better place to start than Rothstein’s book."
― Rachel M. Cohen, Slate

"Rothstein’s work should make everyone, all across the political spectrum, reconsider what it is we allow those in power to do in the name of 'social harmony' and 'progress' with more skepticism…The Color of Law shows what happens when Americans lose their natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or in the case of African-Americans, when there are those still waiting to receive them in full."
― Carl Paulus, American Conservative

"Virtually indispensable… I can only implore anyone interested in understanding the depth of the problem to read this necessary book."
― Don Rose, Chicago Daily Observer

"Rothstein’s comprehensive and engrossing book reveals just how the U.S. arrived at the ‘systematic racial segregation we find in metropolitan areas today,’ focusing in particular on the role of government. . . . This compassionate and scholarly diagnosis of past policies and prescription for our current racial maladies shines a bright light on some shadowy spaces."
― Publishers Weekly [starred review]

"The Color of Law should be required reading for every American student… What an amazing accomplishment and what a contribution to restorative justice. Truly a tour de force, and exceptionally moving."
― Jeffrey D. Sachs, University Professor of Columbia University and author of The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions

"Through meticulous research and powerful human stories, Rothstein reveals a history of racism hiding in plain sight and compels us to confront the consequences of the intentional, decades-long governmental policies that created a segregated America."
― Sherrilyn A. Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

"Original and insightful…The central premise of [Rothstein’s] argument…is that the Supreme Court has failed for decades to understand the extent to which residential racial segregation in our nation is not the result of private decisions by private individuals, but is the direct product of unconstitutional government action. The implications of his analysis are revolutionary."
― Geoffrey R. Stone, author of Sex and the Constitution

"Masterful…Rothstein documents the deep historical roots and the continuing practices in law and social custom that maintain a profoundly un-American system holding down the nation’s most disadvantaged citizens."
― Thomas B. Edsall, author of The Age of Austerity

"This wonderful, important book could not be more timely…With its clarity and breadth, the book is literally a page-turner."
― Florence Roisman, William F. Harvey Professor of Law, Indiana University

"One of those rare books that will be discussed and debated for many decades. Based on careful analyses of multiple historical documents, Rothstein has presented what I consider to be the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation."
― Wiliam Julius Wilson, author of The Truly Disadvantaged

"At once analytical and passionate, The Color of Law discloses why segregation has persisted, even deepened, in the post–civil rights era, and thoughtfully proposes how remedies might be pursued. A must-read."
― Ira Katznelson, author of the Bancroft Prize–winning Fear Itself --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

Richard Rothstein is a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute and a Fellow at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He lives in California, where he is a Fellow of the Haas Institute at the University of California–Berkeley. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01M8IWJT2
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright; Reprint edition (May 2, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 2, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 25415 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 370 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #12,487 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
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- #2 in Urban Planning & Development
- #4 in Housing & Urban Development Law (Books)

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Top reviews from the United States

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Thor-Zine

At last its on paper for the doubters to see!

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

Finally, somebody takes the time to confirm what many of us had always suspected, that is was the law that prevented integration. I grew up one of the all black communities the author talked about. Made up of temporary housing left over the WW2. My Father a returning war vet, tried, again and again, to get a VA loan to get a house the only places where the houses were, the white communities where he watched white vets get their loans and move out years before. Finally my parents saved their money and checked out several places (By then fair housing was the law in California but it did nothing about federal law forbidding financing), they found a white owner not only willing to sell but loaned them part of the down payment (this was in the mid 60's, 20 years after the end of WW2). Not only did that owner catch flack but the other white neighbors were not happy with us moving in, one of whom was an officer...in the German army during the war(so an African-American vet can't move into a neighborhood that a former enemy can - just because he's white?).

We were "lucky" there was no violence, many neighbors just ostracized us, and a few wanted to buy us out. Other Black families who moved out found themselves all put into the same block. Imagine in the 60's in an era where there was no internet, faxes, bulletin boards, nor large realtors like Century 21. Realtors were all local, and territorial and yet they all decided to forgo competition and agreed to block place all the black families in one block where they can be "monitored".

Every time I hear someone spread that myth "Oh Black people don't want to move into white neighborhoods because they love being among their own" I straighten them out, African Americans never had a choice!

1,109 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jack Storey

The Most Important Book I May Have Ever Read

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

I originally wrote a dissertation-length review of this book before opting to delete it and simply say: if you want to sing a recurring chorus of "there's no f***ing way this can be true?!" while learning more than you ever thought possible, about a topic you thought you already knew a decent amount about: then you need to buy this book (and some pencils for marking up the margins). It is the most uncomfortable, disheartening, damning, and critically important book I may have ever read. Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs to know this history (and the facts that back it up). There are no acceptable excuses for this "forgotten history", and it is now up to our generation to find an acceptable path forward, while never downplaying the horrors of our past.

567 people found this helpful

Helpful

Randall L. Wilson

Systemic Racism

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

Just as I was reading about how the government segregated the Bay Area, I saw images of the torch-lit march in Charleston. I recognized my sickening kinship of whiteness I shared with those marching. It is the kinship of willed cultural ignorance that forms the foundation of white privilege in America. That I was shocked as a 57 year old white American man aware of this nation’s racist past is part of the bond I share with those young men in Charleston.

My shock is that of my white privilege hitting up against the racist reality from which I benefit. I can’t hold on to the fact of intentional governmental, societal and cultural segregation against the everyday belief that we are a liberal, tolerant and diverse society. And because I am surrounded by my own kind, we share our collective amnesia which allows us to ponder why is it that African-Americans haven’t worked their way out of poverty.

‘The Color of Law’ is a great book because it is focused on disputing the legal amnesia of the Robert’s Court that plays to the safety of continued white privilege by denying the reality of decades of intentional racism which manifests itself as segregation. Rothstein marshals his evidence like a lawyer to show all the ways in which this nation knowingly pursues policies to keep the American dream white and restricted.

Incidentally the book makes it clear that American racism is cold and systemic. It is merciless and as relentless as a shark. White people love to claim that they aren’t racist not understanding that when they do that, they are admitting to the racism they refuse to see. American racism isn’t about an individual white person’s warm feelings towards an African American. No doubt many slave-owners had warm feeling about individual African-American slaves. No, American racism is about the system that whites pretend not to know exists that gives them the freedom to like individual African-Americans while spouting ‘law and order’ slogans. It is time for us white people to own our racism and expose our comfortable lies that make the system work. Only then can we start the hard work we have ahead of us.

409 people found this helpful

Helpful

roger lopez

A book with FACTS. Dont turn away.

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

It's a must read on how the United states keep has and will try to keep separating minorities from white Americans. The book is full of FACTS and information that is out there for those who won't believe what is written in this book. Next time you think of saying " why don't they just help themselves?". Read this book and you will realize that African Americans have been trying to move forward but you can only do so much when Real estate agencies, Federal Housing Association and the US government is going against you.

159 people found this helpful

Helpful

Nathan

Very informative book, but difficult to digest.

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

I'll be honest and say that I haven't finished this book which is the basis of my review.

The book is extremely informative, even though I've always known (in general) that Blacks have faced discrimination and outright exclusion to housing. This book really provides very specific examples. I greatly appreciate that, especially considering that many have trouble accepting that the government (federal or local) have intentionally excluded black people from homeownership, etc. However, it's hard to digest because it's specific example after specific example. So it gets redunant to read and hard to digest. I hope to finish the book one day, but if you already know that Black people have faced discrimiation in housing then this book (from what I read so far) is more supplemental to your knowledge.

76 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Andrew Fontenelle

The Color of Law

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

In the "Color of Law", Richard Rothstein shows that the use of discriminatory residential practices in the US, including 'racially' zoned housing areas, restrictive covenants, the creation of fear of loss of property values and at times violence have been in effect from the reconstruction period in the late 19th Century and continued into 21st Century. These practices have disproportionately affected African Americans, keeping their communities poor and leading to the creation of segregated neighbourhoods, where none previously existed.

The most disconcerting thing about this is that it the policies have been supported by the state and federal government. Not just in the Southern States, but throughout the US. Also, whilst these 'racial' discriminatory practices are no longer openly applied, their effects have carried over into the lives of the children, grandchildren, and other generations of African American families, also keeping them in poverty.

This is another excellent and well-researched history of discriminatory practices in the US, showing that despite the idea of the "American Dream", where anyone can achieve whatever they want, inequality has been and continues to be a feature of US society.

12 people found this helpful

mattpurcell4

Must read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

Great history of racial discrimination and the human actions that shape systemic discrimination. Book focuses on housing

Christopher J. Albertyn

Required reading

Reviewed in Canada on March 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

An excellent book. It corrects many false assumptions of government neutrality on residential segregation. It documents the many ways in which government at all levels promoted racial segregation to the detriment of African-Americans.

L. Ferguson

If You Haven't Figured It Out...This will explain

Reviewed in Canada on August 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

STUNNING, COMPELLING, REALISTIC, EDUCATIONAL!! Read this book !!

One person found this helpful

bookworm

Book: The Color of Law

Reviewed in Canada on July 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

The book arrived in great shape and I believe it was early! Thank you! now for finding time to read!