This important volume provides a powerful overview of racism in the United States: what it is, how it works, and the social, cultural, and institutional structures that have evolved to keep it in place. It dissects the rise of legalized discrimination against four major racial groups (First Nations, Africans, Mexicans, and Chinese) and its perpetuation as it affects these groups and new immigrants today. The book’s scaffolding framework—which takes in institutions from the government to our educational systems—explains why racism remains in place despite waves of social change. At the same time, authors describe social justice responses being used to erode racism in its most familiar forms, and at its roots. This timely resource: