W. Avon Drake and Robert D. Holsworth focus on the landmark case of Richmond v. Croson. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled against the city of Richmond's set-aside program requiring that thirty percent of the money in municipal construction contracts go to minority-owned firms. The authors describe the politics that gave rise to the set-aside program, investigate its actual operation, explore its effects, and detail responses to it in both black and white communities. As they show, the program served important political purposes but produced limited economic benefits for the Black community. Drake and Holsworth conclude by examining the politics of development as an alternative to the set-aside framework.

Insightful and path-breaking, Affirmative Action and the Stalled Quest for Black Progress examines the accomplishments and limitations of the set-aside programs once at the center of political debates about affirmative action in the United States.

W. Avon Drake (d. 2008) was an associate professor of political science in Virginia Commonwealth University's School L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. Robert D. Holsworth is a founding director for the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University and serves on the Board of Visitors of Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the coauthor of The Indispensable University.

Introduction   1
1   The Affirmative Action Debate   11
2   Black Politics in Richmond, 1945-89   37
3   Set-Aside Politics   70
4   Set-Asides and the Broader Strategy for Black Progress   95
5   White Responses to Affirmative Action   115
6   Richmond v. Croson in the Courts   138
7   Urban Politics after Croson   161
Notes   185
Bibliography   201
Index   209