A Covenant With Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn, 1636-1990
- List Price: $60.00
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Columbia University Press
- Publish date: 05/01/2000
Wilder illustrates his points through a variety of cases, including the rise of Kings County's colonial elite, banking interests, industrialization and slavery, race-based distribution of federal money in jobs, and mortgage loans during and after the Depression.
He explores the evolution of the Brooklyn ghetto, tracing how housing segregation corralled African Americans in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Throughout, he uses Brooklyn as a lens through which to view larger issues on a national level.
One of the few recent attempts to provide a comprehensive history of race relations in an American city, this book is a major contribution to urban history and the history of race and class in America.