The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America

Rothstein’s lecture will focus on his recently published book, The Color of Law, in which he argues that dominant explanations for racial segregation which assume that de facto segregation—or informal practices, such as discriminatory lending practices—are flawed. Rather, Rothstein argues that de jure segregation in the form of explicit policies and laws are to blame for the segregation of African Americans from whites in American neighborhoods...