In this article, part of a special issue of Business & Society devoted to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s contributions to management scholarship and practice, Fairchild and Robinson examine the harmful effects of racial segregation on urban labor markets in the United States and propose a role for business thought leaders in addressing this social problem.

Fairchild, an assistant professor at the Darden School, and Robinson, an assistant professor at Rutgers Business School, begin with a discussion of King's Letter from Birmingham Jail. In this document, which King wrote in 1963 to fellow clergy who had asked him and his followers to accept a slower pace of desegregation in Birmingham, King draws on various intellectual strands–theology, philosophy, sociology–as he writes of the essential conflict between segregation and American ideals and the devastating economic consequences of racial isolation.

Despite passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1968, just after King's assassination, racial segregation persists in U.S. neighborhoods, workplaces, and educational institutions. Using data from the Multi–City Study of Urban Inequality (MCSUI), a survey of more than 8,500 residents in Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles, Fairchild and Robinson examined the effects of segregation on job outcomes for black job seekers. They found that racial isolation at multiple levels–in metropolitan areas, in neighborhoods, and in personal relations–has damaging consequences. Racial segregation in urban areas segments labor markets; residents of racially homogeneous neighborhoods have limited access to people who can help them advance economically; and homogeneity in an individual's relationships makes it harder for that person to find jobs. The data show that continued racial segregation affects black job seekers' ability to find jobs, the length of the job search, and the quality of available positions. "Racial isolation operates in multiple ways and across levels to limit the labor market outcomes of urban residents," the authors write. "We argue that the multi–level effect of racial isolation outside of firms contributes to high levels of segregation within and across firms."

In Letter from Birmingham Jail, King wrote of the important roles that church leaders could play outside the church. Fairchild and Robinson have the same message for business thought leaders. Achieving equality in the workplace must start outside it. The authors call on scholars to reveal the root causes of social ills rather than just describe the symptoms and to urge business leaders to work for change, both within their organizations and in their communities. Fairchild and Robinson also call for the thoughtful synthesis of fields, which was central to King's approach. They ask, "Where are the new leaders who can reach across fields and assist in creating a synthesis between social science knowledge, normative beliefs, and economic action?"