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An Untold History of Racial Inequality in
Twentieth-Century America
Ira Katznelson
From the Publisher:
A groundbreaking work that exposes the twisted origins of affirmative
action.
When Affirmative Action Was White
demonstrates that all
the key programs passed during the New Deal and Fair Deal era of the
1930s and 1940s were created in a deeply discriminatory manner. This
was no accident. With the United States still in an era of legal
segregation, the powerful southern wing of the Democratic Party
provided the framework for Social Security, the GI Bill, and landmark
labor laws that helped create the foundations of the modern middle
class. Through mechanisms that specifically excluded maids and
farmworkers and through laws that kept administration in local hands,
the gap between blacks and whites actually widened despite postwar
prosperity.
The publication of this deeply disturbing work
promises to create a national debate on the meaning of affirmative
action and the responsibility of government.
Hardcover • 256 pg • 2005
About the Author Ira Katznelson is
Ruggles Professor of Political
Science and History at Columbia University. He lives in New York City. |
