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The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide
For every dollar owned by the average white family in the United States, the average family of color has less than a dime. Why do people of color have so little wealth? The Color of Wealth lays bare a dirty secret: for centuries, people of color have been barred by laws and by discrimination from participating in government wealth-building programs that benefit white Americans.
This accessible book—published in conjunction with one of the country’s leading economics education organizations—makes the case that until government policy tackles disparities in wealth, not just income, the United States will never have racial or economic justice.
Written by five leading experts on the racial wealth divide who recount the asset-building histories of Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and European Americans, this book is a uniquely comprehensive multicultural history of American wealth. With its focus on public policies—how, for example, many post–World War II GI Bill programs helped whites only—The Color of Wealth is the first book to demonstrate the decisive influence of government on Americans’ net worth.
The authors are all part of United for a Fair Economy, a national nonpartisan organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, that campaigns against growing income—and wealth inequality and inspires action to reduce economic inequality.
This accessible book—published in conjunction with one of the country’s leading economics education organizations—makes the case that until government policy tackles disparities in wealth, not just income, the United States will never have racial or economic justice.
Written by five leading experts on the racial wealth divide who recount the asset-building histories of Native Americans, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and European Americans, this book is a uniquely comprehensive multicultural history of American wealth. With its focus on public policies—how, for example, many post–World War II GI Bill programs helped whites only—The Color of Wealth is the first book to demonstrate the decisive influence of government on Americans’ net worth.
The authors are all part of United for a Fair Economy, a national nonpartisan organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, that campaigns against growing income—and wealth inequality and inspires action to reduce economic inequality.
326 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2006
47 people are currently reading
1000 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 10, 2017
A comprehensive look at the historic political and socio-economic reasons why there is a large wealth disparity between white and non-white groups in America. A must read for anyone interested in the issue of economic inequality.
February 26, 2022
A bit textbook-y and repetitive, but an important and detailed look at what the wealth gap really looks like and why.
Read
June 16, 2020I read The Color of Wealth just after I had attended a conference at which I heard one of the co-authors speak. The first chapter or two are excellent at providing the reader with scope and knowledge of the division of wealth in the United States. In these first few pages the authors also develop a definition of wealth that includes things like access to certain institutions, support from family members, and physical assets like home ownership and legacies of progenitors. Though these factors play a large part in assuring and perpetuating an economic divide between people of color and whites, the predominant attribution of responsibility for it is pinned directly on U.S. Governmental policies and Judicial rulings favoring whites.
The rest of the book is heavy laden with a seemingly endless string of specific examples of biased policies and laws and the various impacts they had on people of color. The number of examples can get overwhelming and become repetitive to read, but they are effective in illustrating the authors’ point that the division of wealth in the U.S. is strongly connected to how government does business.
Ultimately, the book is arguing for the creation of government policies and laws that specifically target and favor people of color. As a white reader I caught myself thinking that doing so would be unfair and racist, but I had a ton of evidence in front of me that the opposite had been true for some time. I had a lot of conflicting feelings while reading The Color of Wealth. I encourage you to pick it up and give it a go if you are at all interested in learning about the history of the division of wealth along color lines in the U.S.
The rest of the book is heavy laden with a seemingly endless string of specific examples of biased policies and laws and the various impacts they had on people of color. The number of examples can get overwhelming and become repetitive to read, but they are effective in illustrating the authors’ point that the division of wealth in the U.S. is strongly connected to how government does business.
Ultimately, the book is arguing for the creation of government policies and laws that specifically target and favor people of color. As a white reader I caught myself thinking that doing so would be unfair and racist, but I had a ton of evidence in front of me that the opposite had been true for some time. I had a lot of conflicting feelings while reading The Color of Wealth. I encourage you to pick it up and give it a go if you are at all interested in learning about the history of the division of wealth along color lines in the U.S.
November 30, 2023
Absolutely outstanding work! This book is truly exceptional as it meticulously delves into the unjust appropriation of financial resources from people of color in the US. It provides profound insights into how these resources often favor white individuals, playing a pivotal role in their wealth accumulation. The examination of long-held traditions adds a compelling layer to our understanding of wealth and generational wealth in the United States.
What adds to the fascination is the book's scrutiny of how ethnic groups now classified as white are treated in the US. Despite not officially being labeled as people of color, the book highlights that they still enjoy certain benefits. This aligns seamlessly with the enduring observation that white women have reaped the most benefits from affirmative action programs, contributing an additional layer of insight to the ongoing conversation about disparities.
The book maintains clarity in its explanations, avoiding complex academic language and instead weaving in truly captivating stories. This makes it accessible without the need for a dictionary or an advanced degree.
In a nutshell, if you're eager to unravel the intricacies of why the money game in the United States lacks fairness and where it all originates, this book is an absolute must-read. I wholeheartedly recommend it, especially if you're deeply passionate about understanding these critical issues, as I am!
What adds to the fascination is the book's scrutiny of how ethnic groups now classified as white are treated in the US. Despite not officially being labeled as people of color, the book highlights that they still enjoy certain benefits. This aligns seamlessly with the enduring observation that white women have reaped the most benefits from affirmative action programs, contributing an additional layer of insight to the ongoing conversation about disparities.
The book maintains clarity in its explanations, avoiding complex academic language and instead weaving in truly captivating stories. This makes it accessible without the need for a dictionary or an advanced degree.
In a nutshell, if you're eager to unravel the intricacies of why the money game in the United States lacks fairness and where it all originates, this book is an absolute must-read. I wholeheartedly recommend it, especially if you're deeply passionate about understanding these critical issues, as I am!
November 18, 2019
Like many books read for classes recently, I did not finish this book but I read the gist and feel no guilt calling it read despite my incompletion of it. Excellent research and eye-opening ideas, but I can't help but think about what my favorite economics teachers used to teach about causation versus correlation, especially with the conclusions the authors derive from the statistics. Nevertheless, I would recommend to anyone seeking to understand the economic injustices of the world.
August 28, 2020
EXTREMELY accessible book on the racial wealth divide. Provides a good balance of info graphics, personal narratives, history and law analysis.
Read
February 11, 2021No rating for school books & non fiction books, but if I had to say, i'd give it a 4/5
April 17, 2024
Very hard book to read but very amazing Information. Read more like a text book.
June 13, 2022
Borrowed this from the library where I work. I think there are two really helpful things about this book: 1) it's easy to find information on income inequality online, but wealth inequality is a bigger concept, so I appreciated the longitudinal view of how things like income inequality play out over time and across generations; and 2) this was a great survey of the actual legislative oppression that accompanies other forms of discrimination (e.g., I will never not be angry about the blatant highway robbery of the Dawes Act). I would both be interested in and afraid of what a current update to their statistics would look like, as I'm not sure if anything has changed since this was written, let alone for the better. Which I guess means this is still an important piece of scholarship!
May 28, 2007
http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?r...
April 2, 2007
Shannon Gibney
Shannon Gibney writes on "The Color of Wealth" by Rose Brewer, who teaches at the University of Minnesota.
“The wealth gap is a profound problem for democracy here in the U.S.,” says University of Minnesota professor Rose Brewer. “A lot of people have studied the income gap, and how that has been closing post-Civil Rights Movement, but there has been far less attention paid to the persistent and growing wealth gap between Whites and people of color.”
Brewer, who writes and teaches in the African American and African Studies Department on the Twin Cities campus, said that uncovering and exploring this issue was the major catalyst for creating The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, a comprehensive volume which The New Press brought out last year.
“We had been talking about this book for quite some time, and once we decided that we would do it, it took around five years to assemble,” said Brewer. The Color of Wealth’s authors hail from disparate parts of the country, and also have disparate racial and ethnic backgrounds, but they share a commitment to creating and sustaining an economically just society.
Meizhu Liu is executive director of United for a Fair Economy, a Boston-based organization that works for economic parity in all communities; Barbara Robles is an expert in Latino public policy and is currently at work on her book Rich Latino/Poor Latino: Wealth Inequality, Cultural Capital and Social Policy; Betsey Leondar-Wright is UFE’s communications director and a long-time economic justice organizer and researcher; and Rebecca Adamson is founder and president of First Nations Development Institute (1980) and founder of First Peoples Worldwide (1997). All five authors, including Brewer, are active members of UFE, which played a leading role in the book’s development.
Check out The Color of Wealth at your local library or bookstore.
Visit United for a Fair Economy at www.faireconomy.org.
April 2, 2007
Shannon Gibney
Shannon Gibney writes on "The Color of Wealth" by Rose Brewer, who teaches at the University of Minnesota.
“The wealth gap is a profound problem for democracy here in the U.S.,” says University of Minnesota professor Rose Brewer. “A lot of people have studied the income gap, and how that has been closing post-Civil Rights Movement, but there has been far less attention paid to the persistent and growing wealth gap between Whites and people of color.”
Brewer, who writes and teaches in the African American and African Studies Department on the Twin Cities campus, said that uncovering and exploring this issue was the major catalyst for creating The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, a comprehensive volume which The New Press brought out last year.
“We had been talking about this book for quite some time, and once we decided that we would do it, it took around five years to assemble,” said Brewer. The Color of Wealth’s authors hail from disparate parts of the country, and also have disparate racial and ethnic backgrounds, but they share a commitment to creating and sustaining an economically just society.
Meizhu Liu is executive director of United for a Fair Economy, a Boston-based organization that works for economic parity in all communities; Barbara Robles is an expert in Latino public policy and is currently at work on her book Rich Latino/Poor Latino: Wealth Inequality, Cultural Capital and Social Policy; Betsey Leondar-Wright is UFE’s communications director and a long-time economic justice organizer and researcher; and Rebecca Adamson is founder and president of First Nations Development Institute (1980) and founder of First Peoples Worldwide (1997). All five authors, including Brewer, are active members of UFE, which played a leading role in the book’s development.
Check out The Color of Wealth at your local library or bookstore.
Visit United for a Fair Economy at www.faireconomy.org.
August 19, 2016
OK, I didn't actually finish this book. I ran out of time before my book group discussion. But I read enough to be enlightened and horrified by the countless ways that racist US government policies and the racist actions of other powerful institutions, such as the real estate business, have first robbed Native Americans of their land and then robbed all people of color of fair (or in the case of enslaved Africans, any) recompense for their labor over centuries and thus prevented them from accumulating wealth that could be passed on to their descendants. White Americans should be ashamed of what has been done for us at the expense of people of color. And we should be on the front lines of advocating for reparations as an inadequate but necessary program to start leveling the playing field.
May 11, 2009
So good. Such a useful overview of institutional ways that financial resources have been taken away or otherwise kept from people of color in the US, and how they have been given/redirected towards white folks, and how white-owned resources have been better positioned to accumulate wealth. Also has a good breakdown of the ways ethnic groups that are now considered white received different treatment in the US, but how they still benefited from not ever officially being listed being people of color. And very minimal academic jargon, and very good about the anecdotes and clear explanations.
October 25, 2013
"The Color of Wealth": A bevy of economists demonstrate in massive detail the racial origins of wealth inequality and the myriad ways government policy has contributed to the racial wealth gap. Super important work if a tad dry in places.
Want to read
April 18, 2007I heard a recording of a speech the author gave on NPR, and can't wait to get ahold of this book.
Want to read
November 13, 2007another office-mate rec
November 17, 2008
A fascinating book... places a priority on FACTS, and explodes a lot of pre-conceived notions regarding wealth and its distribution (current and past) in the United States.
July 7, 2011
Found this look into the historical roots of inequity to be quite fascinating.
December 26, 2009
I appreciated the layout by race then with a concluding chapter focusing on white privilege followed by a chapter with possible solutions.
September 23, 2011
Not a fan of the author's style. Although I agree with the analysis, the writing was extremely dense and biased. However, it is important to know this information.
June 10, 2011
Strong economic survey of economic racial divide and its relevance today.
July 6, 2016
Pulls back the cover on the history of structural (and individual) white supremacy in our country. A must read for anyone wanting a clear-eyed look at what must be done for the sakes of all of us.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews