Rothstein uses African American throughout his book. He avoids the terms “people of color” or “BIPOC” because African Americans experienced unique systematic racism from government regulations.

Blockbusting was a method real estate speculators used to buy properties in borderline Black/White areas, then sell or rent them to African Americans. These agents then stoked fears that these new African American residents would lower the value of White homeowners’ property, encouraging them to sell their homes to the real estate agents for less than their value. The properties were then sold to African Americans at an inflated cost.

The 1917 Supreme Court ruling Buchanan v. Warley declared that the residential segregation ordinances in Louisville, Kentucky, were unconstitutional. The court determined that these ordinances infringed on freedom of contract, or the property owner’s right to sell to whomever they want.