Richard Rothstein is an American academic and author affiliated with the

Economic Policy Institute The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-profit 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 un ...

, 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 an American civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Although LDF ca ...

. 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 human ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with regards to

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

Career

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

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

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/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for bec ...

. 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 In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. 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 ''The New York Times'' 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 ro ...

'' 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) * ''Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law'' (with Leah Rothstein) (2023)

References

External links

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