Conversation with Deborah N. Archer, author of Dividing Lines

• Tuesday, October 7 @ 12:00 pm
• Lewes Public Library, Lewes, DE

Join us in the library or online for a conversation with legal scholar and ACLU President, Deborah N. Archer, author of Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality. This work is an essential account of how transportation infrastructure — from highways and roads to sidewalks and buses — became a means of protecting segregation and inequality after the fall of Jim Crow. Archer will be in conversation with Ron Collins.

Our nation’s transportation system is crumbling: highways are collapsing, roads are pockmarked, and commuter trains are unreliable. But as Archer warns, before we can think about rebuilding and repairing, we must consider the role race has played in transportation infrastructure, from the early twentieth century and into the present day. Drawing on a wealth of sources, including interviews with people who now live in the shadow of highways and other major infrastructure projects, Archer presents a sweeping, national account—from Atlanta and Houston to Indianapolis and New York City—of our persistent divisions. She examines the limits of current Civil Rights laws, which can be used against overtly racist officials but are less effective in addressing deeper, more enduring, structural challenges. But Archer remains hopeful, and in the final count describes what a just system would look like and how we can achieve it.

NOTE: this session is available to attend in-person or through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER and indicate which you prefer.

This event is co-sponsored by the ACLU of Delaware.

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