Evolution Of Affirmative Action

Our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence were based on the idea that all men are created equal. What this really meant then and means even more today is that all men should have equal opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Affirmative Action is the one sure legal means to make that possible for everyone, regardless of race, religion or gender. ""Affirmative Action is a policy designed to create a nondiscriminatory environment for the management of human resources and the distribution of economic benefits...It means taking a second look to be fair to everyone who applies for a job or admission to college." (Anderson PG).

The 1954 court case, Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka ruled that Linda Brown, a black student who was denied admission into her local elementary school on the basis of her race, was in fact a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. A unanimous court decision broke the long tradition of de jure segregation riding on the justification of “separate but equal” facilities. It was Chief Justice Earl Warren’s ruling that finally shed light on the fact that “Separate Educational facilities [were] inherently unequal” and that it resulted in the “deprived protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

America is founded on the belief that all citizens are free to pursue their ambitions regardless of race, color, creed, or national origin. Yet, for the last fifty years, Affirmative Action has created an educational and work environment less focused on equality and more focused on ethnicity. There is no benefit for the United States to enforce Affirmative Action for minorities in educational and employment opportunities and equal treatment, because it promotes reverse discrimination, devalues real accomplishments, and cultivates the minority struggle.

In the1960's Civil Rights Movement began this then resulted in Affirmative action. Affirmative action was built to help member of minority groups and women gain equal opportunities in education and employment. In 1961 Executive Order was given by President Kennedy to direct government contractors to take affirmative action in order to guarantee applicants were employed,

Affirmative action was initiated in the 1960s as a way for the federal government to counteract years of discrimination in ethnic minorities, women and other underrepresented groups in the employment, education and government sectors. In 1965 as one way of ending job discrimination President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11246 it required that all federal contractors and subcontractors develop Affirmative action. Affirmative action basically required employers to take active steps in creating equal employment opportunities and to redress past discrimination for members of minority groups.

    Ever since John F. Kennedy had signed for Affirmative Action, which was to assure that people based on their gender, race

1967). Which extended affirmative action for African Americans and other minorities, to also include women.

Though Affirmative Action is a current controversial issue, it is far from new; its decree has been long in the making. Perhaps it originates from amendments 13-15, the series of amendments that outlawed slavery, guaranteed equal protection under the law, and forbid racial discrimination when voting, respectively (Sykes 1). The Supreme Court’s decision in 1896, in the case of Plessy V. Ferguson, mandated separate but equal treatment for African Americans (Sykes 1). However, in 1954, the Supreme Court’s decision from Brown v. Board of Education replaced that of the Plessy v. Ferguson trial. President Lyndon Johnson was the first to use the term “Affirmative Action” in the Executive Order 11246 of 1965 (Sykes 1). This order

An important controversy in the United States today is that of affirmative action. Affirmative action is a set of procedures, laws and policies with the intent to eliminate forms of discrimination. In recent years affirmative action has focused on racial preferences in college admissions resulting in the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in 2013. In regards to this different arguments say that the ruling affects minority and non-minority students because, it discriminates against non-minorities, creates equal opportunity for everyone by helping the disadvantaged, and that it may actually not be creating diversity. Despite its effort to procure equality for all people, affirmative action has become one of our most divisive social policies.

Affirmative action policy is a deliberate effort to provide full and equal opportunities in education and the work force to individuals belonging to disadvantaged groups. In institutions of higher education, affirmative action refers to admission policies that provide equal access to education for minorities who have been historically excluded or under represented. Affirmative action has increased minority access to business and professional careers that were once denied. Affirmative action in the United States began with efforts to eliminate discrimination practices after the Civil Rights Movement. The use of race as a factor in the college admission process has been a topic of debate for years. Critics of affirmative

After the second rejection, the plaintiff, Allan Bakke, decided to sue the defendant, University of California, on the basis of the fourteenth amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Allan Bakke claimed that the University of California’s quota system on minorities was violating the fourteenth amendment while also saying that he was getting discriminated against because of his skin color or a case of reverse discrimination (Stewart 2014). His case first went to the Yolo County, California district court where the court ruled in favor of Bakke completely (Baldwin 2009). The use of race in admission processes was now not allowed in the state of California. It was appealed and accepted by the Supreme Court and is known as Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.

Affirmative action has been around for a very long time. Some people see it as moral compensation, some as reverse discrimination. But what exactly is affirmative action and what is its purpose? Affirmative action is a policy that gives opportunities to minorities, women, and any group who has been subject to discrimination in the past. It is a set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination between applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future, such as applicants seeking admission to an educational program or looking for professional employment. Affirmative action was a policy set to diversify institutions and companies. This policy prevents institutions from discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to any individual or group in public employment, public education, or public contracting on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin. When President John F. Kennedy originally introduced affirmative action in 1961, however it was mainly focused on just employment. I will speak on how affirmative action has now worked its way into the education system and how it specifically affects gender equality.

The history of Affirmative Action dates back to the days when the nation tried to rebuild its society after the civil war. Reconstruction tried to establish virtuous relations between the white Europeans & black Africans that made up a giant part of the American society. The nation was torn on how to establish these relations. Lots of call Reconstruction the low point of race relations in the United States. This period included the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, defining national citizenship so as to include blacks. This Amendment passed Congress in June 1866 and was ratified, despite rejection by most Southern states on July 28, 1868. In response to the newfound freedom of African Americans, whites incited numerous accounts of violence. White hatred of the black race created a period that experienced the most lynching’s in the history of the United States.

The history of Affirmative Action ultimately began two hundred years ago with the founding of our nation. The Constitution, which is the basis of all

Affirmative action or positive discrimination was a set of laws and policies that were introduced to ensure employment equity relating to race, religion, sex, color and national origin. It means that employers had to consider these factors when staffing their organizations(Dessler, 2008). The major purpose of affirmative action was to promote employers to take actions that achieve non-discrimination within their organization. This was meant to compensate for the earlier discrimination, exploitation and persecution that minority groups, especially African Americans, had been exposed to.