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 "hypersegregation." The authors demonstrate that this systematic segregation of African
Americans leads inexorably to the creation of underclass communities during periods of economic downturn. Under
conditions of extreme segregation, any increase in the overall rate of black poverty yields a marked increase in
the geographic concentration of indigence and the deterioration of social and economic conditions in black communities.
As ghetto residents adapt to this increasingly harsh environment under a climate of racial isolation, they evolve
attitudes, behaviors, and practices that further marginalize their neighborhoods and undermine their chances of
success in mainstream American society. This book is a sober challenge to those who argue that race is of declining
significance in the United States today.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. The Missing Link
2. The Construction of the Ghetto
3. The Persistence of the Ghetto
4. The Continuing Causes of Segregation
5. The Creation of Underclass Communities
6. The Perpetuation of the Underclass
7. The Failure of Public Policy
8. The Future of the Ghetto
Notes
Index