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Tax-exempt status
A government corporation formed during the Great Depression as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Its purpose was to build infrastructure and create economic opportunities in the hard-hit Tennessee Valley region, and it was relatively successful—but only at helping white people in the area. The TVA was completely segregated and provided no desirable jobs to African Americans. This reflects the broader pattern of racial segregation during the New Deal, which Rothstein sees as the product of both the political compromises necessary for its passage and the specific racist beliefs of President Roosevelt and others in his administration.
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Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Term Timeline in The Color of Law
The timeline below shows where the term Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) appears in The Color of Law. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Public Housing, Black Ghettos
...created the nation’s first public housing for civilians,” it was explicitly segregated. For instance, the Tennessee Valley Authority created “a model village […] open only to whites” and all of the labor camps...
(full context)
Chapter 10: Suppressed Incomes
...domestic service” were generally excepted from all labor protections, and New Deal agencies like the Tennessee Valley Authority and Federal Emergency Relief Administration segregated their workforces, relegating African American people to the worst...
(full context)
