Why American Ghettos Persist

A pedestrian along blighted Springfield Ave., in Newark, N.J., May 1, 1974, focal point of bitter rioting in 1967

Tommie Shelby, the Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African & African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard University, looks at why American ghettos persist, despite decades of public policy designed to “help” poor residents “fix” their neighborhoods. In Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform, he draws on leading social science research and examines the social and political questions raised by ghettos.