20 Landmark US Policies That Enshrined Systemic Racism

The history of state-supported racism in the United States created deep structural barriers that shaped the economic and social realities of Black Americans for centuries. Federal, state, and local governments enacted laws or turned a blind eye to atrocities that stifled wealth building and political power. From the Fugitive Slave Act and Black Codes to redlining, Jim Crow segregation, the Tuskegee study, the War on Drugs, and the subprime lending crisis, these twenty policies legally sanctioned violence, denied rights, and dispossessed entire communities. Examining these pivotal moments reveals the legal mechanisms that enforced racial oppression and underscores why the struggle for equity remains urgent today.

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