Long before racial colorblindness became central to contemporary debates over affirmative action and equality, Americans contested whether race should be ignored, acknowledged, or actively addressed within educational institutions. Tracing the evolution of racial colorblindness from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries, historian Brandon James Render examines how competing race-neutral and race-conscious ideologies shaped higher education, legal doctrine, and public discourse. Challenging the conventional view that racial colorblindness emerged primarily in response to the civil rights movement, this book reveals a longer history of conflict over the meaning of race, equality, and inclusion in American society. Centering the ideas and experiences of Black students, educators, administrators, and intellectuals while also examining how white administrators, policymakers, jurists, and other institutional actors understood and applied racial colorblindness, Colorblind Universities demonstrates how competing understandings of race shaped its development, meaning, and limits. By bringing these perspectives into conversation, Render reveals how debates over racial difference and neutrality unfolded within institutions and among the people who defined, challenged, and implemented their policies.
