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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which Constitutional Amendments does Rothstein say are violated by housing discrimination?

2. When did the U.S. start building public housing?

3. What did the Buchanan decision outlaw?

4. What did Harland Bartholomew do as planning engineer for St. Louis, MO?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How did life change in the South in 1877?

2. How does Rothstein say deeds were used as mechanisms of segregation, and how does he say they were backed as de jure segregation?

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

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

5. What is blockbusting?

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

7. What does Rothstein say the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights concluded about the American government’s role in creating segregation?

8. What effect did the Communist Revolution in Russia have on American housing policy?

9. What effect does Rothstein say Woodrow Wilson had on integration in the U.S. government?

10. Where does Rothstein say public housing started in the U.S.?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a character sketch of the author based on his style and content. What can we tell about him, based on the choices he makes in terms of description, characterization and plot? What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

(see the answer keys)

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