The Racial Wealth Gap: A Brief History

by Mehrsa Baradaran

A concise history that uncovers the roots of this most pernicious American divide and makes an urgent call for reparations.


Why does the median white household hold six times as much wealth as the median Black one? This sweeping yet accessible history by a leading expert on financial inequality shows how decades of laws rooted in white supremacy—from slavery and the broken Reconstruction–era promise of “40 acres and a mule” to the policies of the Jim Crow and New Deal eras—have restricted Black access to capital, credit, homeownership, and other mechanisms of wealth creation while subsidizing the rising economic fortunes of white families. Society has often blamed Black poverty on the failings of Black people, but Mehrsa Baradaran shows that in fact ruinous spasms of wealth destruction have compounded the wealth gap, from the 1921 massacre in Tulsa, to the 1958 dismantling of Durham’s Hayti district, to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. A furious and compelling read, The Racial Wealth Gap offers a devastating analysis of one of America’s most pressing systemic issues.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Economics, Politics

192 pages, Hardcover

Published February 3, 2026

About the author

Mehrsa Baradaran is Professor of Law at UC Irvine Law and a celebrated authority on banking law. In addition to the prizewinning The Color of Money, she is author of How the Other Half Banks: Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threat to Democracy. She has advised US senators and representatives on policy and spoken at national and international forums including the World Bank.

Reviews

[Jillian B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m really enjoying this Norton Shorts series. The author of this book does a great job of explaining why there is a persistent racial wealth gap in the U.S. It’s straightforward enough to lay out the issue for those with little knowledge of it, but goes deep enough that those with more education on the topic will still learn some things.

[Chelsea Knowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

The Racial Wealth Gap is a short book that perfectly discusses the racial wealth gap between the median white households and the median black households. The book starts off by explaining the laws and rights around black Americans when slavery ended. This book explains that when slavery ended it did not automatically mean black Americans were then seen as equal to white Americans. In many respects black Americans were and are economically behind white Americans because they did not have the chance to earn wealth as their labour was exploited during slavery. This book then explains the laws that made it difficult for black Americans to succeed and it outlines why America is not a meritocracy despite claims that it is by the wealthy.

I will be recommending this book because it is the perfect introduction to this topic. It outlines everything perfectly and it makes the reader interested in the topics mentioned in this book such as redlining. This is written well and it is very engaging. This book shows how black Americans have been disadvantaged but it doesn’t mean black Americans haven’t or can’t succeed. It simply states facts around the racial wealth gap but the author also emphasises that there is now a huge wealth gap between the mega wealthy and average American citizens of all races. This was great and very informative.

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of this recapping books she’s already done, but if you haven’t read Mehrsa, this is a pretty damn good place to start. I also love the prescriptive part at the end. I think two sides of the coin exists, if we allow uneven banking, finance, and policing of Black America, soon those tools will be turned against us. We didn’t fight as a country to make homeownership fair, and now it isn’t just Black America that pays the price (they still do), but most middle-class Americans, especially Millennials and GenZ, do too now. Think of how homes and whole neighborhoods become hard to live in because private equity and other landlords view rent as a fantastic revenue stream, pricing the middle-class out of home ownership.

[Jimmy Cooley]

"The reality of American history is a pattern of subsidies creating white wealth, laws leading to the destruction of Black wealth, and a moral ideology projecting blame on Black communities for their lack of wealth and power."

This was an exceptional and comprehensive history and examination of the racial wealth gap between white and Black Americans.

Baradaran demonstrates that the economic subjugation of Black Americans by wealthy whites was not only integral to America's founding, but that it has never left.

From slavery, to sharecropping, Jim Crow, redlining, predatory lending, and outright exclusion from historic grants and subsidies - the game has been rigged against Black opportunity from the start.

Baradaran also highlights how the racism of whites has been intentionally harnessed by white elites since America's founding, scapegoating Blacks while the elite pillage and hoard all of the wealth.

I do not see how you can read this book and still subscribe to the myths of "free market capitalism" or "equal opportunity for all".

This should be required reading.

[Dayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, especially about certain aspects of US history that are normally not mentioned in schools. Prep schoolers should read this alongside the sanitized version of history presented in text books. It would give them better insight about the socio-economic stratification that never seems to improve & hopefully give them more empathy toward those who are products of generational disadvantages created by our government. I received a copy from a Goodreads giveaway.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

What this does well: cover a lot of ground concisely, clearly, and still manages to remain focused. This approach allows the structures of the systems shaping the experience of 2 incredibly complex topics (race and money) to come into focus—it makes history relevant and the possibility for change actionable.

[Susie Dumond · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small-but-mighty introduction to systemic racism in the U.S. economy and the ways in which "free market" capitalism is anything but free. Mehrsa Baradaran makes these complicated topics super accessible.

[Leah Hortin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super easy to digest. A great intro into the topic.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very important look at how our government has created the racist racial wealth gap.

[Tabish Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short and important read explaining why the US still has a wealth gap between its black and white citizens, exploring the history of policy-making that has restricted black communities from accruing wealth. It does a great job of dispelling the myths around why this gap still exists.

[Sandra Hodges · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were no surprises in this historical story regarding the treatment of Slaves, Coloreds, Negros, Blacks, African Americans. References from the 50’s and 60’s took place during my childhood. I appreciate the honest manner in which the facts are presented.

[Alicia Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read book. Comprehensive, thorough, well-researched and sourced.