African American Women And Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action. For many Texas high school students, these two words haunt them. Their future, or at least their future at the University of Texas, depends on these words. For Abigail Noel Fisher, a 2008 graduate from Sugar Land, Texas, affirmative action and its race bias policies allegedly ruined her chances of getting into this prestigious state university. Fisher argues that race should not be a factor in college admissions processes, Fisher argues for equality. Equality in respect to race is in our constitution; it surrounds us everyday. In theory, race should be irrelevant in this day and age. Humanity has established that one race is not superior to another, so why should race matter at all in the college admissions process? Why should the University of Texas, or any other university, have that “check your race” box on their applications? Abigail Fisher, and every other person applying to the university, deserves as much opportunity as every other student of any race. When it comes to college, intelligence and character should be key to admission- not the color of the applicant’s skin. The University of Texas’ current affirmative action policy is an unfair college admissions process that the Supreme Court should ban so that admissions are based on intellectual ability in high school, national testing scores, extracurricular activities, and community service; this should be changed so that every person,

By 1815, slavery within America was already institutionalised affecting the majority of African Americans; by 1860, there were 3.5 to 4.4 million enslaved African Americans as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade in comparison to the 488,000–500,000 free African Americans. The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freed all enslaved African Americans; nonetheless, African Americans were still considered inferior. Especially African American women who were treated significantly worse- sexually exploited, rejected by various southern suffragette groups as well as the National Woman Suffrage Association which opposed the 15th Amendment, enabling African American men to vote, fearing the setback it could cause women in obtaining the vote. Historian Deborah Gray White highlighted the status of being an African American woman stating that being "Black in a white society, slave in a free society, woman in a society ruled by men, female slaves had the least formal power and were perhaps the most vulnerable group of antebellum America." From 1815 to 1917, the lives of white women improved economically, socially and politically. Nevertheless, the improvement of African American women could be questioned. Therefore, this essay will focus on how the lives of African American women from 1815 to 1917 were marked by continuity rather than a period of change and improvement.

The petitioner Abigail N. Fisher, who is a woman of Caucasian decent, applied to the University of Texas in late 2008 (“Fisher v. University of Texas.”). Since Fisher was not ranked at the top of her class her application was denied (“Fisher v. University of Texas.”). The former University of Texas applicant Abigail N. Fisher believes that the Institutions discriminatory admission policies was the reason she did not get admitted into the school for the incoming freshman class of 2009, even though her application was much better than many of the admitted minority students. Fisher then filed a suit case against the University arguing that the University of Texas admission policy was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states it forbids

African American women advocate for social change in the Progressive Era by forming and participating in an organization that advocates for women suffrage, racial violence, and improvement of social conditions.

Another case involving the affirmative action policies was the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. This is another case of “seat holding” in where the school admission policy was reserving a number of sets for minority applicants. Bakke, a white applicant, was denied twice to the medical school. Minorities were allowed admittance with low-test scores though Bakke had high MCAT scores, GPA, and benchmarks (McBride, 2007). The result of the whole trial was that the California Supreme Court found that the system explicitly discriminated against racial groups and stated, “No applicant may be rejected because of his race, in favor of another who is less, as measured by standards applied without regard to race,” (McBride, 2007). The medical school was then ordered to shut down their quota system.

Bakke (Respondent), a white applicant to Davis Medical School, California sued the University, alleging his denial of admission on racial grounds was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution

One of the most problematic and controversial issues in The United States of America is affirmative action. Affirmative action is a policy of affording minorities certain privileges in order to combat the historical prejudice against them. In an effort to redress the historical injustices faced by African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities, universities and employers across the nation have taken race into account when admitting students or hiring employees. Abigail Fisher, of Texas, applied for admission into the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and was denied; she sued the public university on the grounds of racial discrimination or reverse racism in the supreme court case Fisher v University of Texas.

In this particular case I find the matter of Fisher v. Texas case I find that the University of Texas should not be able to continue on with their policy. Even though Abigail Fisher applied and was not apart of the top 10 percent of her class, she was still a very competitive applicant. Considering the fact that she was ranked 82 out of her senior class 674 she was still at the top 12 percent of her class. Her application surplused most of the other minority students admitted in the second round of admittance. Abigail Fisher's should have been considered a contender as part of the University of Texas’s freshman class of 2009. She believes she was well prepared and would be able to succeed at the University.

In the Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin multiple individuals played a vital political role. The plaintiff Abigail Smith sued the defendant the University of Texas after being denied admission. She believed that the school was racially discriminating against her after finding that the university had accepted students of racial minority with lower grades and test scores. The university president, Bill Powers proclaimed in defense," We remain committed to assembling a student body…that provides the educational benefits of diversity…while respecting the rights of all students…” (Williams, McClam). With a 4-3 ruling the Supreme Court decided that the use of affirmative action in university admissions decisions was in fact

Like the discussion question stated, Texas has been placed at the center of the Affirmative Action debate with the Fishes vs the university of Texas (2013) case, because first fisher is white. Fisher's body of evidence against the University of Texas is that the Affirmative Action confirmation arrangement has a different effect on the off chance that you are white you will probably be denied affirmation. The confirmation includes accumulation of measurements used to decide affirmation, demonstrating that Fisher scored higher on the measurements than numerous who were conceded. Fisher v. College of Texas is a case at present before the United States Supreme Court concerning the governmental policy regarding minorities in society affirmations

University of Texas(UT). In this Supreme Court case, Abigail Fisher, a white student who accused UT of denying her entrance into the school because of her race. The universities race-conscious admissions policy was then put into question by Fisher and her lawyers after suing the university for discrimination. However, the use of a race-conscious admissions policy is used by UT to sort applicants that do not automatically get in because of their top ten percent ranking in high school. Fisher claimed that the use of race by UT in admission decisions violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Her allegations towards the university come from the fact that she was not in the top ten percent of her school so she was left to compete with other non-top ten percent in-state applicants. In the end, the court decided that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does, in fact, permit the consideration of race in undergraduate admissions

In the case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke [1978], Allan Bakke, a white male who applied to the University of California at Davis, filed suit after being rejected twice despite that his grade point average, MCAT scores, and benchmark scores were higher than those of all the other minority applicants who were accepted. Bakke argued that the special admissions program violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because he wasn’t accepted due to his race. It is unfair that Bakke scored higher than every minority applicant and proved his qualification but was denied an opportunity. The university argued that their special admissions system was designed to combat discrimination of minorities in medical school admissions. The university claimed that their program brought ethnic and racial diversity to their student body and increased the number of physicians in underserved communities. The Superior Court of Yolo County and Supreme Court of California both ruled that the special admissions program was unconstitutional. The Regents of the University of California

The US is a melting pot with various groups of immigration such as: Asian American, Jewish American, African American, and Mexican Ame. Minority groups have experienced many kinds of segregation. They are discriminated in education and employment. Then, a program called “Affirmative Action” was introduced with the hope to engage more people of color into the society.

When addressing legal issues of diversity in the modern day era, one main topic is brought to discussion, affirmative action. It was put into place by the federal government in the 1960’s and was initially developed to close the gap in relation to the privileged majority and the unprivileged minority in America (Aguirre Jr. & Martinez, 2003). While it has been controversial since its origin, it remains controversial as critics argue it tries to equalize the impact of so many

In its original form, Affirmative Action was designed to allow underrepresented minorities compete in fields they were long not considered to participate in. Racial inequality in the United States, especially in the former Confederate South, remained entrenched in law for nearly a hundred years after the end of the Civil War. Discrimination against black Americans and other ethnic groups denied them the chance to be as successful as whites, and led to widespread poverty. The words “affirmative action” were first pronounced by President Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 of 1965, which requires federal contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin” (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).