The Color of Law

Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law is a history of the modern American metropolis that argues how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation.

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 transformed our understanding of twentieth-century urban history, The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past.

Endorsements

“Masterful.” — Washington Post

“Essential.” — Slate

“The most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation.” — William Julius Wilson

“Virtually indispensable.” — Chicago Daily Observer