The Color of Law

The Color of Law

by

Richard Rothstein

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt Character Analysis

The long-serving president of the United States from 1933-1945, who is best remembered for implementing the New Deal policies in an effort to rescue the nation form the Great Depression and leading the nation through World War II. Although the New Deal began constructing public housing through the Public Works Administration and promoting homeownership through Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance, Roosevelt had to cooperate with segregationist Democrats from the South to get these laws passed. As a result, African Americans were blocked out of the New Deal’s programs and benefits, and Roosevelt’s administration constituted the first major push toward residential segregation after Reconstruction.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Quotes in The Color of Law

The The Color of Law quotes below are all either spoken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt or refer to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
De Jure vs. De Facto Segregation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

The biracial character of many neighborhoods presented opportunities for different futures than the segregated ones that now seem so unexceptional. Yet those opportunities were never seized.

Related Characters: Richard Rothstein (speaker), Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Page Number: 24
Explanation and Analysis:

The director of the Federal Housing Administration supported Tenerowicz, stating that the presence of African Americans in the area would threaten property values of nearby residents. Foreman was forced to resign. The Federal Works Agency then proposed a different project for African Americans on a plot that the Detroit Housing Commission recommended, in an industrial area deemed unsuitable for whites. It soon became apparent that this site, too, would provoke protests because it was not far enough away from a white neighborhood. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt protested to the president. The FWA again reversed course and assigned African Americans to the Sojourner Truth project. Whites in the neighborhood rioted, leading to one hundred arrests (all but three were African Americans) and thirty-eight hospitalizations (all but five were African Americans).

Related Characters: Richard Rothstein (speaker), Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Page Number: 26-7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

The HOLC created color-coded maps of every metropolitan area in the nation, with the safest neighborhoods colored green and the riskiest colored red. A neighborhood earned a red color if African Americans lived in it, even if it was a solid middle-class neighborhood of single-family homes.

Related Characters: Richard Rothstein (speaker), Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Related Symbols: Homeownership
Page Number: 64
Explanation and Analysis:
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt Quotes in The Color of Law

The The Color of Law quotes below are all either spoken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt or refer to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
De Jure vs. De Facto Segregation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

The biracial character of many neighborhoods presented opportunities for different futures than the segregated ones that now seem so unexceptional. Yet those opportunities were never seized.

Related Characters: Richard Rothstein (speaker), Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Page Number: 24
Explanation and Analysis:

The director of the Federal Housing Administration supported Tenerowicz, stating that the presence of African Americans in the area would threaten property values of nearby residents. Foreman was forced to resign. The Federal Works Agency then proposed a different project for African Americans on a plot that the Detroit Housing Commission recommended, in an industrial area deemed unsuitable for whites. It soon became apparent that this site, too, would provoke protests because it was not far enough away from a white neighborhood. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt protested to the president. The FWA again reversed course and assigned African Americans to the Sojourner Truth project. Whites in the neighborhood rioted, leading to one hundred arrests (all but three were African Americans) and thirty-eight hospitalizations (all but five were African Americans).

Related Characters: Richard Rothstein (speaker), Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Page Number: 26-7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

The HOLC created color-coded maps of every metropolitan area in the nation, with the safest neighborhoods colored green and the riskiest colored red. A neighborhood earned a red color if African Americans lived in it, even if it was a solid middle-class neighborhood of single-family homes.

Related Characters: Richard Rothstein (speaker), Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Related Symbols: Homeownership
Page Number: 64
Explanation and Analysis: