Author to discuss government-led segregation

LAWRENCE — An author whose latest book details government-led housing segregation will visit the University of Kansas for a public lecture.

Richard Rothstein will discuss insights from his recently published book, “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.” Rothstein is research associate of the Economic Policy Institute, fellow at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and fellow of the Haas Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

In “The Color of Law” (Liveright, May 2017), Rothstein argues how segregation in America is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state and federal levels. He calls upon significant research and documentation accumulated over many years that demonstrate that the government didn’t just ignore, but rather promoted discriminatory housing practices across the United States for decades. The book has garnered national attention, from The New York Times to National Public Radio.

The lecture, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 5, at The Commons, is free and open to the public. A book signing and reception will follow the event. It is part of the “Framing the Dialogue” series at The Commons, which invites dialogue across disciplines that reference the broader conversations we face at a societal level, http://thecommons.ku.edu/framingthedialogue.shtml.

The event is supported by The Commons, the School of Law, KU Libraries and the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, as well as the Department of African & African-American Studies, the Department of American Studies, the Langston Hughes Center, the School of Public Affairs & Administration and the Department of Sociology in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.