Richard Rothstein is an American academic and author affiliated with the

Economic Policy Institute The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit American, left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C., that carries out economic research and analyzes the economic impact of policies and proposals. Affiliated with the labor mo ...

, and a senior fellow (emeritus) at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the

NAACP Legal Defense Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Altho ...

. His current research focuses on the history of

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of humans ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with regards to

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...

Career

From 1999 until 2002, Rothstein was the national education columnist for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. and had been a senior fellow at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the law school of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

until it closed in 2015. Rothstein was then affiliated with the Haas Institute at the

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

. His 2017 book, '' The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America'', argues that racial housing segregation is the result of government policy at all levels—federal, state, and local. Rothstein disagreed with the prevailing view affirmed by

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in the 1973 decision '' Miliken v. Bradley'' and a subsequent 2007 decision: that housing segregation is primarily the result of private racism and decisions. A review in ''

'' said that there was "no better history" of housing segregation, while Rachel Cohen of ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' called ''The Color of Law'' "essential."

Bibliography

* ''The Way We Were? Myths and Realities of America's Student Achievement'' (1998) * ''All Else Equal: Are Public and Private Schools Different?'' (co-authored in 2003) * ''Class and Schools'' (2004) * ''The Charter School Dust-Up: Examining the Evidence on Enrollment and Achievement'' (co-authored in 2005) * ''Grading Education: Getting Accountability Right'' (2008) * '' The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America'' (2017)

References

External links

Webpage at EPI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothstein, Richard Date of birth missing (living people) Living people American Jews Harvard University alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Writers from Philadelphia Historians from Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) American male non-fiction writers