{"id":40506,"date":"2021-06-25T17:22:36","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T21:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=40506"},"modified":"2021-06-28T17:36:07","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T21:36:07","slug":"residential-segregation-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Roots of Residential Segregation in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When was the start of residential segregation in the United States? Who played the leading role in creating a segregated America?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with a landmark, unconstitutional Supreme Court decision in 1883 that refused to equate housing discrimination<\/a> with slavery. This kickstarted the period between 1883 and 1963 when residential segregation in the United States became prevalent. The government at all levels contributed to this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the history of residential segregation in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Early Roots of Racial Segregation <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As noted in the introduction, residential segregation in the United States is unconstitutional<\/strong>: It infringes the Fifth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution. It was also outlawed by the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited any law that echoed the characteristics of slavery by disadvantaging African Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, in 1883, the Supreme Court determined that <\/strong>housing discrimination didn\u2019t represent a continuation of the \u201cbadges and incidents of slavery.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until 1968\u2014when the Supreme Court overturned the 1883 decision and, separately, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act\u2014that racial discrimination in housing<\/a> was unambiguously prohibited<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1883 and 1968, African Americans were systematically and repeatedly disadvantaged in the housing market<\/a> due to government policy\u2014specifically through the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans Administration\u2014with repercussions that entrenched residential segregation in the United States today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the primary source of wealth for American families is their home<\/strong>. Because of racial segregation<\/a> in the United States, black Americans were unable to obtain financing, from either the government or private banks, to purchase homes in the middle of the last century, their descendants haven\u2019t inherited the same wealth that white Americans have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These descendants are also unable to file suit for remuneration on account of this historical discrimination. Because the Supreme Court ruled housing discrimination legal between 1883 and 1968, descendants of those discriminated against have no legal standing to sue.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Role of the Government in Creating Residential Segregation in America<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Widely reviewed and discussed when it was published in 2017, Richard Rothstein\u2019s The Color of Law<\/em> makes the case that racial residential segregation in the United States<\/strong>\u2014the fact that African Americans largely live in discrete areas separate from white Americans\u2014is the result of explicit government policy<\/strong> (\u201cde jure\u201d segregation) rather than personal preferences or random processes (\u201cde facto\u201d segregation). That is, historically, African Americans didn\u2019t <\/strong>choose <\/em><\/strong>to live almost exclusively among themselves<\/strong>; rather, they were compelled to do so by an array of discriminatory policies designed and implemented by government at the federal, state, and local levels to create a segregated America<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The distinction between de jure and de facto segregation<\/a> is key. This is because segregation \u201cby law\u201d is unconstitutional<\/strong> and so remediable by legislation and litigation, whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that segregation \u201cby personal choice\u201d isn\u2019t rectifiable under the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rothstein proves his claim that racial residential segregation in the United States was government-sponsored by examining the various means public officials used to promote segregation. Each chapter in the following summary focuses on one of these means, from the segregation of public housing<\/strong> to the exclusion of African Americans from federal home loans <\/strong>to the continual disadvantagement of African Americans in the labor market<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To emphasize the individual strategies government employed to create a segregated America, Shortform has had to omit some of the many examples Rothstein includes of racial residential segregation. (Those familiar with the book will also notice that we\u2019ve redistributed the material that appears in the book\u2019s first chapter<\/strong> and combined some shorter chapters<\/strong>.) As always, if you enjoy the summary and are curious to know more, we encourage you to consult the author\u2019s work itself. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When was the start of residential segregation in the United States? Who played the leading role in creating a segregated America? It started with a landmark, unconstitutional Supreme Court decision in 1883 that refused to equate housing discrimination with slavery. This kickstarted the period between 1883 and 1963 when residential segregation in the United States became prevalent. The government at all levels contributed to this issue. Read more about the history of residential segregation in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,39,24],"tags":[402],"class_list":["post-40506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","category-history","category-society","tag-the-color-of-law","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nRoots of Residential Segregation in the United States - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the history of segregation in the United States and discover how a Supreme Court ruling legitimized residential segregation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Roots of Residential Segregation in the United States\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore the history of segregation in the United States and discover how a Supreme Court ruling legitimized residential segregation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-25T21:22:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-28T21:36:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/residential-segregation.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"684\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joseph Adebisi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joseph Adebisi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joseph Adebisi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d8daf45671a09e8745a7a9f50a03b2a0\"},\"headline\":\"Roots of Residential Segregation in the United States\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-25T21:22:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-28T21:36:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/\"},\"wordCount\":622,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/residential-segregation.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Color of Law\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ethics\",\"History\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/residential-segregation-in-the-united-states\/\",\"name\":\"Roots of Residential Segregation in the United States - 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