The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (Liveright, 2017)
To me, the most interesting and valuable reads I’ve come across are those that connect across multiple aspects of my scholarly work and interests and at times lead to a complete rethinking and reshaping of my understanding of how and why things are the way they are and work the way they do. Even more valuable are those writings that can help my students come to similar deep understanding. One book that especially resonates with me in this regard is Richard Rothstein’s Color of Law, which lays out in densely packed detail the historical, political, and legal underpinnings of racial residential segregation in the U.S. This book provides the why and how behind the systemic institutional racism that shapes school segregation and racial inequality in America to this day and is a necessary prerequisite to studies in educational inequality and policy responses.
Baker’s latest Kappan articles:
- Weathering the storm: School funding in the COVID-19 era
- The underfunding of Latinx-serving school districts
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bruce D. Baker
BRUCE D. BAKER is a professor at the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. He is the author of Educational Inequality and School Finance: Why Money Matters for America’s Students .
