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The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Hardcover – Illustrated, May 2, 2017
| Richard Rothstein (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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One of Publishers Weekly's 10 Best Books of 2017
Longlisted for the National Book Award
This “powerful and disturbing history” exposes how American governments deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide (New York Times Book Review).
In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation―that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation―the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments―that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.
Through extraordinary revelations and extensive research that Ta-Nehisi Coates has lauded as "brilliant" (The Atlantic), Rothstein comes to chronicle nothing less than an untold story that begins in the 1920s, showing how this process of de jure segregation began with explicit racial zoning, as millions of African Americans moved in a great historical migration from the south to the north.
As Jane Jacobs established in her classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, it was the deeply flawed urban planning of the 1950s that created many of the impoverished neighborhoods we know. Now, Rothstein expands our understanding of this history, showing how government policies led to the creation of officially segregated public housing and the demolition of previously integrated neighborhoods. While urban areas rapidly deteriorated, the great American suburbanization of the post–World War II years was spurred on by federal subsidies for builders on the condition that no homes be sold to African Americans. Finally, Rothstein shows how police and prosecutors brutally upheld these standards by supporting violent resistance to black families in white neighborhoods.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited future discrimination but did nothing to reverse residential patterns that had become deeply embedded. Yet recent outbursts of violence in cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, and Minneapolis show us precisely how the legacy of these earlier eras contributes to persistent racial unrest. “The American landscape will never look the same to readers of this important book” (Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund), as Rothstein’s invaluable examination shows that only by relearning this history can we finally pave the way for the nation to remedy its unconstitutional past.
13 illustrations- Print length368 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLiveright
- Publication dateMay 2, 2017
- Dimensions6.4 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
- ISBN-101631492853
- ISBN-13978-1631492853
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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
― 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
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Liveright; Illustrated edition (May 2, 2017)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1631492853
- ISBN-13 : 978-1631492853
- Item Weight : 1.32 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #13,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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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!
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.
By roger lopez on August 17, 2019
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.
Top reviews from other countries
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.











