When we think of segregation, what often comes to mind is apartheid
South Africa, or the American South in the age of Jim Crow--two
societies fundamentally premised on the concept of the separation of the
races. But as Carl H. Nightingale shows us in this magisterial history,
segregation is everywhere, deforming cities and societies worldwide.
Starting with segregation's ancient roots, and what the archaeological
evidence reveals about humanity's long-standing use of urban divisions
to reinforce political and economic inequality, Nightingale then moves
to the world of European colonialism. It was there, he shows,
segregation based on color--and eventually on race--took hold; the
British East India Company, for example, split Calcutta into "White
Town" and "Black Town." As we follow Nightingale's story around the
globe, we see that division replicated from Hong Kong to Nairobi,
Baltimore to San Francisco, and more. The turn of the twentieth century
saw the most aggressive segregation movements yet, as white communities
almost everywhere set to rearranging whole cities along racial lines.
Nightingale focuses closely on two striking examples: Johannesburg, with
its state-sponsored separation, and Chicago, in which the goal of
segregation was advanced by the more subtle methods of real estate
markets and housing policy.
For the first time ever, the majority of humans live in cities, and
nearly all those cities bear the scars of segregation. This
unprecedented, ambitious history lays bare our troubled past, and sets
us on the path to imagining the better, more equal cities of the future.
