Preview

Affirmative Action: The Black Civil Rights Movement

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
197 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Affirmative Action: The Black Civil Rights Movement
The use of affirmative action, in the United States, is more detrimental and destructive to the lives of Black people than helpful and advantageous. As prescribed by the Black civil rights movement, affirmative action is defined as programs which are created to destroy racial barriers, enforce fair socioeconomic opportunities amongst the masses, and induce a communal sense of “positive” discrimination in favor of the states’ minorities (Affirmative Action). Additionally, these programs are most notably used in relations to employment and education and executed lawfully through the use of the United States’ Supreme Court. After the conclusion of American slavery and the Jim Crow Era, affirmative action was created, through President Kennedy’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    1) Thesis statement: Affirmative action is a necessary tool to address past discrimination, promote diversity, and ensure equal opportunities in education and employment, despite recent challenges. 2) Necessary Background Information: Understanding President Kennedy's Executive Order 10925 in 1961 and legal rulings such as Regents v. Bakke (1978) is crucial to comprehending what surrounds this issue. Affirmative action stemmed from President Kennedy's Executive Order 10925 in 1961 and this executive order aimed to eliminate discrimination in employment practices “without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin (Professor Stone Lecture Slides).” It marked a significant step towards addressing systemic inequalities in the workforce, particularly for marginalized groups who faced discrimination and exclusion. Then following Executive Order 10925, one landmark case that shaped affirmative action policies in education was Regents v. Bakke in 1978 and in this case, the Supreme…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Affirmative Action

    • 37361 Words
    • 150 Pages

    The Century Foundation is a progressive nonpartisan think tank. Originally known as the Twentieth Century Fund, it was founded in 1919 and initially endowed by Edward Filene, a leading Republican businessman and champion of fair workplaces and employee ownership strategies, all with an eye to ensuring that economic opportunity is available to all. Today, TCF issues analyses and convenes and promotes the best thinkers and thinking across a range of public policy questions. Its work today focuses on issues of equity and opportunity in the United States, and how American values can be best sustained and advanced in a world of more diffuse power.…

    • 37361 Words
    • 150 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    “President Kennedy, as a way to fight discrimination, first coined the term Affirmative Action in 1961. Later on President Johnson employed Affirmative Action as a means of “a more profound stage of the battle for civil rights . . . not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and result”” (“Background on Affirmative Action.”). Over the past few decades Affirmative Action has grown out of where it originated from and been altered to the extent where it has lost touch with its original intent. A prime example of the misuse of Affirmative Action can be seen in the college admissions process. The arguments against Affirmative Action fall into two categories. First Affirmative Action is immoral and causes individuals to act in an immoral manner, and second, rather than positive consequences Affirmative Action has a net negative consequence on individuals. The removal of Affirmative Action programs in colleges will lead to a colorblind admissions process that is fair to all races. The use of law enforcement could ensure that minorities are not discriminated against in the…

    • 2888 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rocket boys

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Affirmative action is the broad spectrum of policies designed to redress inequalities in employment and education through a system of preferences to minorities according to Ellen Bailey of Yale University. It was originally designed to help improve opportunities for African Americans during the civil rights movement; however it soon grew to include other minorities groups and women too. In the United States where individuals in certain social, racial, gender and economic groups have distinct advantages to education and jobs, affirmative action provides important opportunities that would otherwise be closed to many people who do not belong to these groups. Until each person is allowed to pursue his or her goals unfettered by institutional and personal discrimination, affirmative action is absolutely necessary.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Affirmative action was first referenced to in 1961 with the signing of Executive order 10925 (Brunner). With this the Committee on Equal Opportunity was created, and was mandated that "projects financed with federal funds ‘take affirmative action ' to ensure that hiring and employment practices are free of racial bias" (Brunner). Three years later, in 1964 President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights act that prohibits any form of discrimination (Brunner). On June 4, 1965, President Johnson defined the concept of affirmative action saying, "that civil rights laws alone are not enough to remedy discrimination" (Brunner). Supporters of affirmative action say that the government must make up for the past by aiding groups that have been discriminated against. They argue that goals for hiring are necessary to integrate fields traditionally closed and minorities because of discrimination. Does achieving these goals help the American population?…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due to how disadvantaged African-Americans had been during the 100 years after the Civil War, many Democrat politicians began to believe that the government needed to discriminate positively in favour of African-Americans in such areas as housing, education and employment. Affirmative action was meant to lead to diversity and multiculturalism- the view that the school, the college, the firm, the workplace should reflect the racial diversity of the nation. Some however feel it being reverse discrimination to others. It tended to be unfair to majorities. This has created a lot of debate over the years and many try to conclude this debate through looking at the effectiveness of affirmative action. Some believe that it has worked where as some believe it has not.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Affirmative action is an instituted list of policies to make up for past discrimination against groups based on race, religion, national origin, and gender. From its beginning, affirmative action has given minority groups opportunities for employment, promotion at work, new business ownership, school admission, scholarships and financial aid. President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced affirmative action during the civil rights era in 1965. It was used "as a method of redressing discrimination that had persisted in spite of civil rights laws and constitutional guarantees." (Brunner) The purpose of affirmative action was to end racial inequality and set a level playing field for all races. Affirmative action allowed minorities a fair chance to pursue education and career advancement. It originally was intended for temporary assistance and was supposed to crush existing racially biased ideas in society. What was once a noble and valiant idea in 1965…

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The affirmative of action was first introduced by President John F Kennedy, but was later signed by President Johnson in July 2nd, 1964. Affirmative action is an action for institutes to encourage diversity among their pools of people, by hiring people that have historically been kept out. The affirmative action has created many job opportunities for people who were excluded and would probably have never got those jobs if it was not for the affirmative action. Stephen Henderson, who wrote “I am Affirmative Action” in the Detroit Press, and later USA Today, is an example of how the affirmative action can change some one’s life forever. In Henderson’s article, it was mentioned that the current rate of African American students in the University of Michigan is only 5 percent (Henderson) of the total population, and was barley doubled that percentage when the affirmative action was in its peak.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Introduction During the 1960’s, there was a significant disparity between the amount of minority and female representation in the workforce versus the amount in the American population. In an attempt to correct this disparity, President John F. Kennedy enacts Executive Order 10925 which causes for an aggressive hiring of minorities by the federal government (Chrisman, 2013). Consequently, over-time, the civil rights movement as well as current laws and Supreme Court decisions greatly expand the idea of affirmative action well beyond the idea of what President Kennedy had envisioned it to be. For the minorities of America, affirmative action came to be known as a struggle against racism and racist practices (Chrisman, 2013).…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    On June 19, 1963 Affirmative action came to be. According to Merriam-Webster, Affirmative action is an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination. Affirmative action began as a simple idea to expand equality; however, it has morphed into a charged and divisive topic. Affirmative action has spread from job markets into college admissions. Harvard is now offering reduced tuition to African American students who meet academic requirements in an attempt to diversify their student body, while I believe that is an unfair practice because the quotas in college admissions deny and exclude other students the opportunity to be educated, campuses become balkanized, and unqualified or incompetent students are being placed in positions they should not be because of flawed decision making from white superiors trying to be compliant with their HR department.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Affirmative action

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Marielena Hincapie’s article “Let Us DREAM” from the Huffington Post, published December 10, 2010 explains the argument on the passing of the DREAM Act and how she and the DREAMers are hoping for a better future and that will happen if the DREAM Act is passed, Marielena is in favor of the DREAM Act. She is the executive director of the National Immigration Law Center she’s a public interest lawyer who protects the rights of immigrant workers as herself, she serves on the American Bar Associations Commission on Immigration and on the executive committee of the National Lawyers Guilds Labor and Employment Committee.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Affirmative Action

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages

    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, regardless of race, has equal opportunity to be accepted into the university of their choosing.…

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Affirmative Action

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hello Class. Let me start off by saying that I support the Republican Party's ideas and values and I am a proud supporter of George W. bush. Do I have your attention now? good. Founded in 1974, the American Association for Affirmative Action, otherwise known as AAAA is a non profit organization that helps minorities achieve equal opportunity in the work force (www.AffirmativeAction.org). The problem with American today is that we are seen as different people because of our skin color, and a catalyst for this is in fact, Affirmative Action. Don't get me wrong, I personally feel as if diversity should definitely be introduced to every single job that this country has to offer, but the way hiring goes is what's wrong. Let me give you a brief history of this country. Back in 1776 America gained independence from England and in the next 180 years, everyone worked for where they were. In the late 1800 early 1900's immigrants from Italy and Ireland came to American in search for a better life and had to work for every dime they ever made. My grandfather had 13 children, and his hard work and dedication to educate him self made him the man he was. In my opinion, as soon as Affirmative Action began, this country lost its dog eats dog mentality when it came to self achievement.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Affirmative action is a controversial topic topic, especially in American society. Affirmative action is an active effort to improve the employment or education opportunities of members of minority groups and women. It also means a similar effort to promote the rights of other disadvantaged persons. In America, affirmative action is for a disadvantaged group to have equal opportunities, regardless of: race, religion/creed, sex, national origin, and disability (OFCCP). Many surround the words affirmative action around race, but socioeconomic status, gender, and various other background characteristics play a role. These factors and more especially in the realm of education. Affirmative action is beneficial due to its history and who it affects.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Affirmative Action

    • 3226 Words
    • 13 Pages

    THE GENERAL understanding of affirmative action is that it is about providing opportunities for previously disadvantaged people, which includes people of colour and women.Although disability and homosexuality continue to be issues of concern, this research does not address these issues. Homosexual staff however, expressed problems of not having their partners recognised and not being given the same rights as partners of heterosexual staff.The questions that arise then, are "what is affirmative action?" and "who should benefit from affirmative action policies?" The definition affects implementation and is very important in assessing its result.1. A Contentious ConceptVarious groupings see affirmative action as a contentious concept, with a variety of meanings. Innes (1993:6) argues that it has two meanings and purposes, namely to: i) Overcome discriminatory obstacles that stand in the way of achieving equality of employment; andii) Introduce preferential policies aimed at promoting one group over others to achieve equality of employment.The implementation of affirmative action depends on the specific emphasis of the company and government, through its policies and laws. 2. Origins of Affirmative ActionAffirmative action originated in the United States in the 1960’s. It was a response to pressure by the civil rights movement; thus, race was instrumental in deciding its beneficiaries (Sikhosana 1996). In the United States, unlike South Africa, its purpose was to uplift the position of oppressed minority groups, rather than that of an oppressed majority. Thus, its application and impact in the US would be different from that in South Africa. Nevertheless, affirmative action is a process of transformation. It is evident that the context of the particular country within which the affirmative action operates is of utmost importance (Schreiner 1996). 3. Definition of Affirmative Action a) General Definition…

    • 3226 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays