Description
This book explores the deterioration of the promise of the American dream, particularly for Black Americans. Cal Jillson traces the source and cause of that decline to race prejudice, first in the stark form of human slavery and later in various forms of racial and ethnic discrimination, that has distorted American progress over the past four centuries and now portends American decline. Employing historical analysis of race and ethnicity in American life from colonial to modern times, the chapters examine the various understandings of race and ethnicity in American public life and politics and ask what those understandings imply for political and policy approaches to addressing injustice and restoring the American dream. Drawing on sources from political science, history, sociology, and economics, this book will supplement a main text in upper division courses on race and ethnicity, political sociology, public opinion, demography, and public policy.
Table of Contents
1. Racial Orders and the Structure of American Life 2. Demographic Stability and Change in American History 3. Citizenship, Suffrage, and Race in America 4. Race, Ethnicity, and the American Mind 5. Race, Education, and Social Competition 6. Income, Wealth, and Race in America 7. Race and Health in America 8. Housing, Neighborhoods, and Opportunity’s Environmental Context 9. Race, Ethnicity, and the Criminal Justice System 10. Social Justice and the Modern American Promise: The Way Forward
