Detecting and Understanding Racial Discrimination in the 21st Century

Sign directly opposite the Sojourner Truth, a federal housing project, in Detroit, Michigan. February, 1942. Credit: Arthur Siegel, Office of War Information, Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. Accession Number 2013–3716. This image is in the public domain.

The image above depicts a dark time in U.S. history. This was the face of racial discrimination before the 1960s.

Public, common, direct, and fueled by outright racial animus.

Scholars define racial discrimination as “different treatment on the basis of race that disadvantages a racial group.” In other words, racial…