When America inaugurated its first African American president in 2009, many felt the country had finally become a "post-racial" society. Higginbotham argues that the shadows of Jim Crow era laws and attitudes continue to perpetuate insidious, systemic prejudice and racism in the 21st century. He demonstrates how laws and actions have been used to maintain a racial paradigm of hierarchy and separation-- both historically, in the era of lynch mobs and segregation, and today-- legally, economically, educationally and socially.

Discusses the political, economic, educational, and social reasons the United States is not a "post-racial" society and argues that legal reform can successfully create a "post-racial" America.