Wednesday, March 4, 7-8pm, Jones Middle School, 2100 Arlington Ave.

As part of its HistorySpeaks 2020 series, the Upper Arlington Historical Society is pleased to present author Richard Rothstein discussing themes from his 2018 book The Color of Law. Book sales by Gramercy Books of Bexley will be available pre-event and post-event; book signings will be available after the lecture and question-and-answer period.

Lecture Summary

Racial segregation characterizes every metropolitan area in the U.S. and bears responsibility for our most serious social and economic problems — it corrupts our criminal justice system, exacerbates economic inequality, and produces large academic gaps between white and African American schoolchildren.

We’ve taken no serious steps to desegregate neighborhoods, however, because we are hobbled by a national myth that residential segregation is de facto and is the result of private discrimination or personal choices that do not violate constitutional rights.

The Color of Law demonstrates, however, that residential segregation was created by racially explicit and unconstitutional government policy in the mid-twentieth century that openly subsidized whites-only suburbanization in which African Americans were prohibited from participating. Only after learning the history of this policy can we be prepared to undertake the national conversation necessary to remedy our unconstitutional racial landscape.

Tickets: $15 general admission [other options are available]: eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-author-richard-rothstein-discussing-the-color-of-law-tickets-84637496029

Contact: Upper Arlington Historical Society, 614-470-2610 or info@uahistory.org