The Color of Law

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America is a 2017 book by Richard Rothstein on the history of racial segregation in the United States. The book documents the history of state sponsored segregation stretching back to the late 1800s and exposes racially discriminatory policies put forward by most presidential administrations in that time, including liberal presidents like Franklin Roosevelt. The author argues that intractable segregation in America is primarily the result of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels, also known as de jure segregation — rather than the actions of individuals or private companies, or de facto segregation. Among other discussions, the book provides a history of subsidized housing and discusses the phenomena of white flight, blockbusting, and racial covenants, and their role in housing segregation. Rothstein wrote the book while serving as a research associate for the Economic Policy Institute, where he is now a Distinguished Fellow. The book has been reviewed many times and was received with critical acclaim; among other honors, it made the longlist for the 2017 National Book Awards, was placed at number four on Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Best Books of 2017, and won Rothstein the 2018 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism. It went on to become a bestseller during the mid-2020 resurgence of national interest in racial injustice following the George Floyd protests. As of the December 20th, 2020 issue, the book has spent 32 total weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list.