June 4, 2018

Author of “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” to speak at VCU

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By Pamela Stallsmith
L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs

Richard Rothstein will speak on the history of government reinforced segregation in America. (Courtesy photo)
Richard Rothstein will speak on the history of government reinforced segregation in America. (Courtesy photo)

Richard Rothstein, author of the critically acclaimed book, “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America,” will speak at Virginia Commonwealth University on Wednesday, June 13.  

Rothstein will speak at 6 p.m. in the T. Edward Temple Building, 901 W. Main St., Room 1160. His visit is co-sponsored by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia.

Rothstein will speak on the history of government reinforced segregation in America. Afterwards, copies of “The Color of Law” will be available for sale, and Rothstein will sign copies. The event is free and open to the public.

“The Color of Law” documents the ways that local, state and federal governments systematically imposed residential segregation through zoning, public housing, builder subsidies, tax exemptions, court orders and routing of highways. At his lecture, Rothstein will examine the ways these policies negatively affected African-American communities, and how we are still seeing the repercussions today.

Rothstein is a distinguished fellow of the Economic Policy Institute, and a senior fellow, emeritus, at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and of the Haas Institute at the University of California-Berkeley.