affirmative action Essay - 1839 Words

nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Affirmative action is an attempt by the United States to amend a long history of racial discrimination and injustice. Our school textbook defines affirmative action as â€Å"a program established that attempts to improve the chances of minority applicants for educational or employment purposes, although they may have the same qualifications, by giving them leverage so that they can attain a level that is equal to caucasian applicants† (Berman 522). There are people that support and oppose this issue. Opponents of affirmative action have many reasons for opposing this issue, one of them being that the battle for equal rights is over, and that this advantage made for people of color discriminates against people that†¦show more content†¦Congress also passed a number of civil rights laws barring discrimination against blacks in hotels, theaters, and other places. However, the South reacted by passing the quot;Black Codes, quot; which severely lim ited the rights of the newly freed slaves, preventing them in most states from testifying in courts against whites, and limiting their opportunities to find work. Even though blacks were given suffrage, the white Americans from the south found ways to stop them from voting. These laws were called grandfather laws, which meant that if your relatives could vote prior to 1867, you were permitted to vote. Moreover, this excluded all recently freed slaves (Berman 510). nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In 1896, the Plessy v. Ferguson case, a man who is one eighth black, and seven eighths white, decides to sit in the front of a train, but is not allowed because he of the fact that he is one eighth black. He felt that although only an eighth of his blood was black, that overall he should have been considered white. When taken to court, it was declared that the state of Louisiana had the right to segregate their races in every public facility. Thus began the quot;Jim Crowquot; legislation. Jim Crow laws were made to have â€Å"separate, but equal† facilities for people of color. Not until about sixty years later, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court judge ruled that â€Å"separate, but equal† was unconstitutional. This decision created racial tensionsShow MoreRelatedThe Affirmative Of Affirmative Action Essay1389 Words   |  6 Pages Many affirmative action efforts have been made since the end of the Civil War in order to remedy the results of hundreds of years of slavery, segregation and denial of opportunity for groups that face discrimination. Many African Americans such as President Barack Obama, Senator Cory Booker, the writer Toni Morrison, the literary scholar Henry Louis Gates, media star Oprah Winfrey, and rap star Jay-Z have achieved positions of power and influence in the wider society (Giddens, Duneier, AppelbaumRead MoreAffirmative Action1160 Words   |  5 PagesAffirmative Action Marlene S. Smith MGT/434 October 28, 2013 Thomas Affirmative Action Affirmative action is an action that was purposefully designed to provide full and equal opportunities for employment and education for women, minorities, and other individuals belonging to disadvantaged groups. This paper will assess the rudiments of Affirmative Action as it applies to public and private sector employers. 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Although there has been a lot of hue and cry regarding the benefits of the affirmative action and the suitability of candidates selected thorough affirmative action; research has shown that affirmative action is beneficial and the candidates of affirmative action perform as well as those who are selected through theRead MoreAffirmative Actions1078 Words   |  5 PagesRunning Head: AFFERMATIVE ACTION Affirmative Actions Affirmative action is an action taken by an organization to select on the basis of race, gender, or ethnicity by giving due preferences to minorities like women and races being not adequately represented under the existing employment. To make the presentation of all these compositions almost equal in proportion to do away the injustice done in the past. The Supreme Company need to design an affirmative action program in the light ofRead MoreAffirmative Action1759 Words   |  8 PagesAffirmative Action Right? Affirmative action has been around for decades. 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Today affirmative action and other racial injustices tend to be in the spotlight quite often, suchRead MoreAffirmative Action774 Words   |  4 PagesAffirmative action is a practice that is intended to promote opportunities for the â€Å"protected class† which includes minorities, woman, and people with disabilities or any disadvantaged group for that matter. With affirmative action in place people of this protected class are given an even playing field in terms of hiring, promotion, as well as compensation. Historically, affirmative action is only known to have protected African Americans and woman; however that is not the case. Affirmative actionRead MoreAffirmative Action : Gender Action Essay970 Words   |  4 PagesAffirmative Action (ADD PROPER INTRO) Affirmative action, in its broadest sense, are attempts to help create labor and educational opportunities for groups that have been disadvantaged in the past. (Miriam Webster). Evidence has shown that throughout history, many groups have been discriminated against, and because of past (discriminations?), they continue to experience obstacles in areas of hiring, promotion, renting, buying, gaining education, and everyday economic activities. Thus, affirmativeRead MoreAffirmative Action Is An Action Or Policy? Essay1774 Words   |  8 Pages Affirmative Action remains one of the more complicated and controversial topics dealt with in American society. Affirmative Action is an action or policy designed to protect specific groups who suffer from discrimination, and provide them with programs and special opportunities. These government or private programs were designed to set right historical injustices towards the members of these groups who have suffered things like employment and e ducational disadvantages from racial discrimination