majority. There has been many cases in which affirmative action was used and succeeded in bettering the lives of African Americans.
A prime example of the nation’s use of affirmative action was in Supreme Court case Brown vs.
Board of Education in 1954. Brown vs. Board of Education was an attempt to end segregation in public schools, allowing children of all races to be taught in the same environment. When Brown vs. Board was brought to the attention of the Supreme Court for the first time,the court was very much divided on the subject. After Supreme Court judge Chief Justice Fred Vinson died he was replaced by Governor of California, Earl Warren who managed to change the views of the rest of the court. This resulted in a unanimous vote stating that segregated public schools were unconstitutional and made African American children feel belittled. It was argued that the idea of “separate but equal” was unlawful, discourteous, and against everything America stood for as a country. "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. . .” (Chief Justice Warren 1). Because of the Southern states’ discriminative ways, the Supreme Court agreed on a slow process of desegregating public schools to avoid an uproar amongst the
country.
During the 1960s’ Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans wanted equal opportunity and the ability to have a good job and education. President John F. Kennedy (JFK) was an affirmative action activist and supported the idea of a progressive country that did not discriminate based on one’s ethnicity. In 1961, JFK made Executive Order 10925 which stated, “...affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during the employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national order,” (Kennedy 1). Executive Order 10925 was created in favor of African Americans and other ethnic minorities in the United States to better their way of life. In effort to bring fairness into the United States’ everyday society different programs were created at the time such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This program concentrated primarily on enforcing civil rights laws into the workplace or educational systems of African Americans to avoid discrimination.
In summary, Affirmative Action is the action of supporting minorities who face prejudice lives gain equal career and academic assistance as the advantaged class did. The concept of affirmative action was to eliminate the restraint among minorities and majorities and to favor equality in America’s society. This approach strongly focuses on the aspiration to advance the potential lifestyle for the different ignored groups in America. Just within the past century, minorities have gained more jobs, education, and respect than they had before. Thanks to affirmative action, equality for everyone has become more and more real everyday.