View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When does Rothstein say a federal appeal court finally determined that racially restrictive covenants were unconstitutional?

2. What does Rothstein say was the main driver of de jure segregation?

3. How does Rothstein say UCLA students got black students into their racially exclusive neighborhood?

4. What else was covered beside who could buy a house in a racially restrictive covenant?

5. What percentage of the mortgages in the U.S. does Rothstein say were the FHA and the Veterans Administration insuring by 1950?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the economic argument racist local governments used for restricting black families’ housing options?

2. How does Rothstein circumvent the argument that racially restrictive covenants and exclusionary zoning ordinances were private agreements?

3. What does Rothstein say public housing means now, and what did it originally meant?

4. What role does Rothstein say the federal government had to play in segregating America’s housing?

5. What was the evidence published in Appraisal Journal on the question of whether black families affect housing prices?

6. How was housing policy affected by the 1968 Jones decision?

7. How does Rothstein say UCLA students in Westwood, near Los Angeles, got around their neighborhood’s racially restrictive covenants?

8. What does Rothstein cite as evidence that the government is obligated to remedy segregation?

9. What was the importance of the Supreme Court’s Buchanan decision in 1917?

10. How do the political parties that operated in America in the late 1800s correspond to today’s political parties?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Evaluate your own reading of The Color of Law—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 2

Write an evaluative review of The Color of Law. What is this book’s place in our culture? Who will find this book most useful? What are its uses? What are its limitations?

Essay Topic 3

How do you think The Color of Law would be different if it were centered on women’s experiences? How do you think you could approach the same content but tell the story from women’s point of view? How does the focus on men’s experiences change the narrative in The Color of Law?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,041 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample