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  • The Color of Law

  • A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
  • By: Richard Rothstein
  • Narrated by: Adam Grupper
  • Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (26 ratings)
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The Color of Law

By: Richard Rothstein
Narrated by: Adam Grupper
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Summary

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. 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.

©2017 Richard Rothstein (P)2017 Recorded Books
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"With confidence and clarity, narrator Adam Grupper describes discriminatory laws governing the actions of the Federal Housing Administration, Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other government agencies that have shaped African-Americans' ability to gain wealth, health, education, and voting power, not merely in the past but in the present day.... The Color of Law is compelling and convincing - and maybe even essential." (AudioFile)  

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Should be required reading for all schools kids

This should be required reading in schools, it sets out objectively how the American government systematically and methodically segregated black people not by accident, but by law.

It explains why African Americans specifically have been so disadvantaged by a system that was lined up against them.

It offers bold solutions as well.

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Eye opener, definitely recommend.

Great insight into African American segregation over the last century in America, the information on this book makes it very clear how the actions of the the recent past still has an effect on current and future gerenations.

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Understand the plight of the African American

Great book. Ever wondered why the comparison between the American experience and the British experience are different? And why immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean do better than the native African American but didn't know why?
This books lays it out in great detail and throughs light on the deliberate, consistent and still happening today, racist segregation policies of the United States of America that are so ingrained and hidden behind rules and learnt behaviour. The African American had both hands and one leg tied behind their back. Great book, share with your friends and educate yourself.

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Well organised and insightful.

This book is very relevant today and the narration made it easy to listen to. I had to increase the speed to 1.35 though, which was ideal. As a non-American black person born into a 95% black population, I never quite understood the desire for integration. This book helped me to better understand that perspective in a concise and informative presentation. It simplified a lot of the contemporary effects of historical acts and policy by stating facts and identifying clear prejudice and discrimination.

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Worthy reading and tale of caution.

History is well researched and made me quite angry at times for the blatant racism made by the US Government and it impacts today. I do also see it as a warning for all about the abuse of government power and why it should be limited. If it can do this to one select group i.e.African Americans, it can do it to all. If the government had not interfered with housing at all, I doubt African Americans would be in anywhere near the same level of poverty.

Also some of the 'fixes' proposed will backfire such as minimum wages (which were created to stop African Americans from getting a job in the first place) which will make it even harder for them to get jobs as some of them will not be able to work at the required level. I would say the Government has done enough, it has to be fixed privately by American citizens and allow Blacks to gather the wealth required to get out. Any Government assistance which involves money to help will only create more injustice that will never be fixed.

Anybody who wants to learn American History should add this to their reading list.

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Must have read

Must have read when it comes to segregation in the USA. Although I’m in the other side of the political spectrum as the author, I must agree this is a well done research. Rothstein knows how to write and tell a story.

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