The Color of Law

A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

by Richard Rothstein

eBook, 368 pages

English language

Published July 9, 2017 by Liverlight.

ISBN:: 978-1-63149-286-0
OCLC Number:: 1231508165

(32 reviews)

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.

7 editions

mx duck's books reviewed The color of law by Richard Rothstein

None

5 stars

I listened to this audiobook.

This was hard to listen to. Not because it was poorly written; indeed, it was incredibly well-written (and in the Audible version, the voice actor was terrific). Not because it was badly sourced, or had bad information; no, it was well researched and the arguments were well put. It was hard to listen to because it was so RIGHT.

It is stuff I know already, but being white, I forget because I don't have to live it. It's stuff that I can point out, but some of the bigger picture results get forgotten.

It's a hypercritical read, for sure.

jaymeb reviewed The color of law by Richard Rothstein

Review of 'The color of law' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was a difficult read. Not only for it's dense material (there is over 80 pages of notes), but also for the emotional toll it took on me. I'm not so ignorant to think that segregation was the result of people wanting to be with "their own". But I was definitely shocked at the extent our government developed policies and laws that kept African Americans out of white neighborhoods. This book should be required reading.

Nikko reviewed The color of law by Richard Rothstein

Review of 'The color of law' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Very informative and well thought-out, but I didn't find the writing style very compelling(at times the book felt more like a dissertation or brief).

loppear reviewed The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Review of 'The color of law' on Goodreads

4 stars

Quick forceful arguments and history showing that residential segregation in this country is the direct product of unconstitutional policy at the federal, state, and local level. Focuses on the 20s-50s and on California and the Midwest, to uncomfortably challenge anyone's idea that today's segregation is primarily due to private choices by individuals. From FHA mortgage redlining to public housing authority siting and policy to IRS and regulatory blindness to discriminatory practices and organizations to local zoning and police-condoned violence. And that these institutions continued and refined these practices even as courts began to recognize their unconstitutionally discriminatory effect and intent. The American state's direct role in creating long-lasting segregation and the damages today to black wealth and social mobility due to these policies suggests that state remediation is justified and possible, though the author acknowledges probably not in our current political situation.