American apartheid : segregation and the making of the underclass

Author

Douglas S Massey

Call Number

• 305.8 M416 (CEN)

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Publication Information

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1993.

Physical Description

x, 292 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Summary

This powerful and disturbing book clearly links persistent poverty among blacks in the United States to the unparalleled degree of deliberate segregation they experience in American cities. American Apartheid shows how the black ghetto was created by whites during the first half of the twentieth century in order to isolate growing urban black populations. It goes on to show that, despite the Fair Housing Act of 1968, segregation is perpetuated today through an interlocking set of individual actions, institutional practices, and governmental policies. In some urban areas the degree of black segregation is so intense and occurs in so many dimensions simultaneously that it amounts to hyper-segregation.

Contents

• The missing link
• The construction of the ghetto
• The persistence of the ghetto
• The continuing causes of segregation
• The creation of underclass communities
• The perpetuation of the underclass
• The failure of public policy
• The future of the ghetto.