The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination in employment, public accommodations and federally funded programs. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 added housing, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 extended protections to disabled people. Agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforce these laws.
US law recognizes two main types. Disparate treatment is intentional, such as refusing to hire someone because they are Black. Disparate impact covers policies that look neutral but fall harder on a protected group without a valid business reason. The Supreme Court recognized disparate impact in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. in 1971, striking down diploma and testing requirements that excluded Black workers.
Discrimination remains common and measurable. Audit studies send matched applicants, identical except for race, to apply for jobs or apartments. They consistently find that white applicants get more callbacks and better offers. Because discrimination is often hard for one person to prove, patterns across many cases are how it is usually documented.