Systematic Inequality and Economic Opportunity

Authors’ note: CAP uses “Black” and “African American” interchangeably throughout many of our products. We chose to capitalize “Black” in order to reflect that we are discussing a group of people and to be consistent with the capitalization of “African American.”

Introduction and summary

The U.S. economy was built on the exploitation and occupational segregation of people of color. While many government policies and institutional practices helped create this system, the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, and the New Deal—as well as the limited funding and scope of anti-discrimination agencies—are some of the biggest contributors to inequality in America. Together, these policy decisions concentrated workers of color in chronically undervalued occupations, institutionalized racial disparities in wages and benefits, and perpetuated employment discrimination. As a result, stark and persistent racial disparities exist in jobs, wages, benefits, and almost every other measure of economic well-being.

This report examines how government-sanctioned occupational segregation, exploitation, and neglect exacerbated racial inequality in the United States. Eliminating current disparities among Americans will require intentional public policy efforts to dismantle systematic inequality, combat discrimination in the workplace, and expand access to opportunity for all Americans.

Slavery and Jim Crow concentrated workers of color in chronically undervalued occupations

For centuries, Black people were enslaved and forced to work in brutal conditions as agricultural, domestic, and service workers. By some estimates, slaveholders extracted more than $14 trillion worth of labor, in today’s dollars, from their captives.¹ Enslaved people plowed and sowed fields; harvested and packaged crops; and raised, milked, and butchered livestock.² They cooked and served food, cleaned houses, weaved and mended clothing, and provided child care services.³ They cut hair, carried luggage, and drove wagons, carts, and carriages.⁴ When enslaved Black people attempted to flee, federal laws such as the 1793 and 1850 Fugitive Slave Acts helped ensure their recapture by fining officials who did not arrest alleged runaways and imprisoning anyone who aided in their escape.⁵ If captured, enslaved people could be tortured, mutilated, and even killed without legal repercussions.⁶

View the complete August 7 article by Danyelle Solomon, Connor Maxwell and Abril Castro on the Center for American Progress website here.