The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
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.
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Community Reviews
This book is a continuation of my education in African American history – this time via applied zoning laws as a means of social segregation. I personally know many people who would bristle under the presumption that they both take this for granted and benefit from it. Because I feel like my anti-racist education can’t go forward without this topic being explored, I needed to read this book.
While a lot of what I learned from this book made me really hot under the collar, I can’t dispute anything I found in it especially because it’s based on what I already knew to be true. Still, I think this book could have been a bit more concise and as someone who doesn’t understand “legalese” I didn’t pay much attention to everything I was reading. Not that this book is just for lawyers – but I feel like the topic might be more self-evident to someone who works in civics. I know when I’m out of my league and under-exposed; I know when to throw in the towel.
Without going too far into it, where I was raised, segregation and racism is normalized even in 2020 even more obviously than it is in a lot of places in the United States. It is perfectly normal her for “Black Churches” and “White Churches,” “Black” Gas stations and “White” Gas stations. We do go to the same basic public buildings – schools are inter-racial because they are smaller and serve more rural areas, but we have made national news at least twice in my life-time for having segregated High School proms. Still, I understand that this is neither normal nor the exception.
With this book, you can illustrate the current state of socioeconomic in American cities, and give your anti-racist education a little flavor. Otherwise, the book offers very little by way of solutions except through awareness. It’s a bit dry on it’s own, and repetitive, but it does the job.
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While a lot of what I learned from this book made me really hot under the collar, I can’t dispute anything I found in it especially because it’s based on what I already knew to be true. Still, I think this book could have been a bit more concise and as someone who doesn’t understand “legalese” I didn’t pay much attention to everything I was reading. Not that this book is just for lawyers – but I feel like the topic might be more self-evident to someone who works in civics. I know when I’m out of my league and under-exposed; I know when to throw in the towel.
Without going too far into it, where I was raised, segregation and racism is normalized even in 2020 even more obviously than it is in a lot of places in the United States. It is perfectly normal her for “Black Churches” and “White Churches,” “Black” Gas stations and “White” Gas stations. We do go to the same basic public buildings – schools are inter-racial because they are smaller and serve more rural areas, but we have made national news at least twice in my life-time for having segregated High School proms. Still, I understand that this is neither normal nor the exception.
With this book, you can illustrate the current state of socioeconomic in American cities, and give your anti-racist education a little flavor. Otherwise, the book offers very little by way of solutions except through awareness. It’s a bit dry on it’s own, and repetitive, but it does the job.
If you enjoyed this review, you can find it and others like it here
I find this title alone to be quite familiar. Unfortunately I neglected to emphasize ethnical hierarchy. In my own publication, due to the Northern American Dream. However my Great Great Great grandfather's name and colors of stature where official. As stated in a separate manuscript depicting U.S. Government Armed Force General Leaders.
While nonfiction and a lot of detail, anyone looking to truly understand the deep seated systemic racism in America needs to read this book. Again and again I would turn to anyone sitting nearby and read sections to them. We have smoothed over this party of our history and blamed segregation on private choices that are too difficult to change now. We are hurting ourselves and many others with these beliefs.
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