The Color of Law Characters

A middle-class African American veteran of World War II who tried to move to Levittown, Pennsylvania with his family in 1957, but was met with an angry white mob that camped outside his home… read analysis of Bill Myers

A white property developer who built all-white suburbs, including Rollingwood, in Richmond, California during and after World War II. When work was already underway on his Sunnyhills project in Milpitas, California, Bohannon found… read analysis of David Bohannon

An African American resident of Richmond, California, whose story Richard Rothstein tells in Chapter One as a way to illustrate and personalize the problem of residential segregation. Stevenson was born in a poor town… read analysis of Frank Stevenson

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… read analysis of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The president of the United States from 1929 to 1933, during the beginning of the Great Depression, and the Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1928. While Secretary of Commerce, Hoover promoted racist zoning… read analysis of Herbert Hoover

An African American man from Hamburg, South Carolina who founded a trucking company after World War II and helped to construct two Levittowns (in New York and Pennsylvania) with the help of his nephew Vince… read analysis of Robert Mereday

Robert Mereday’s nephew, a war veteran who could not get loans from the Veterans Administration because he was African American, and who was barred from buying a home in Levittown. He ended up… read analysis of Vince Mereday

The highest-ranking court in the United States, which has broad jurisdiction over any case involving the federal government, and is able to invalidate laws it finds to be unconstitutional. While Rothstein calls on the Supreme… read analysis of The Supreme Court

An African American veteran of World War II who sought to buy a house in Richmond, California in 1952, and then successfully moved into the predominantly white suburb of Rollingwood with the help of a… read analysis of Wilbur Gary