The Color of Law

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein, 345 pages


Rothstein sets the stage for his argument in the introduction. First, he establishes the difference between de jure and de facto segregation. De jure segregation is segregation by law and public policy while de facto segregation is segregation by private practices. Rothstein invokes legal theory set forth by Supreme Court Justice Roberts that the government should be obligated to remedy segregation that is sponsored by the government. Roberts says that most segregation doesn't fall into that category. Rothstein sets out to refute that assertion.

He spends most of the book showing how Federal, State and local government was involved in segregation through either laws, ignoring laws or court decisions, through policy or by being complicit in allowing segregation. Some policies weren't explicitly stated as for segregation but their effect clearly was. In some cases, their stated policy wasn't for segregation but their words and actions were towards segregation. There is documentation to show that government increased the level of segregation. There are actually several examples from St. Louis or nearby.

Rothstein does a good job of making his case. There are a few instances where some examples can be disputed but they don't take away from his overall case. He admits that some scholars would argue that we don't need to distinguish between public and private segregation and that government should have to fix it regardless of if the government caused it but he sticks to his narrow argument.

His fixes mostly involve different methods to integrate society. He admits it would be difficult to get them implemented.

There is so much of history that is never taught in school. I am glad I read this book because I was completely unaware of most of the information presented in this book.

I would especially recommend this to those interested in history or social justice or anybody with an open mind who likes non-fiction.