For example, beginning in the early 1900s, single-room black school houses were all that existed to educate African American children. These schools were extremely lacking in funding, supplies, and children only attended them for a few years. Although having any schools at all was an improvement from the lack of colored schools in the 1850s, the idea of "separate but equal" was grossly inaccurate as these schools were nowhere near the same caliber in quality or quantity.
Then, beginning in the 1950s with the Civil Rights movement, headed by leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., the idea of these injustices were brought to the public eye. Public backlash occurred, and violence often broke out. In 1960, Ruby Bridges became the first African American student to begin the desegregation of public schools as she was allowed to attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana. This was a huge step forward in someday achieving a completely free and equal society.
Unfortunately, inequalities still existed for much of the 1970s and 1980s, but a huge advancement came to light during the early 1960s. President Lyndon Johnson defined and instigated the concept of Affirmative Action. Considered 'positive discrimination,' Affirmative Action began to improve the opportunities for groups generally discriminated against and encouraged public universities to accept and offer aid to more ethnic groups than ever before. Continuing up until the 2000s, Affirmative Action was utilized to seek out fairness in the nation's institutions after years of racism and discrimination.
Today, Affirmative Action is still benefiting countless students across America. According to www.pewresearch.org, over 60 percent of Americans still strongly support Affirmative action as a means of increasing equality in American educational institutions. Still, that leaves 40 percent of Americans that have an issue with this concept. In 2012, a Supreme Court case arose involving the University of Texas and the admissions process. As stated www.inamerica.blogs.cnn.com, a girl sued the University because she believed she was denied access due to being white, and that "less deserving" friends of her's that were non-white were accepted. The Supreme Court did not agree with the girl, however, and the University of Texas was allowed to continue practices of Affirmative Action. Many groups of people became angered at the fact that people believe that these non-white students are so called "less deserving," because this is not the case. According to the University of Texas, race is only a small factor taken into account when holistically reviewing an application.
Now that you know a little more about the history of Affirmative Action, I hope you are ready to follow along with my blog this semester and begin to formulate your own thoughts and opinions on this topical issue. Most people recognize its value in a society that has historically struggled with race relations and discrimination in public institutions. On the other hand, how does a concept like Affirmative Action sound in today's world of political correctness? Even though it is still benefitting many deserving people, when will it not be necessary to keep using it? Will it always be necessary? Let me know in the comments below what you think about the rise of Affirmative Action use in America. Stay tuned, and next week I plan to delve deeper into this civic issue and analyze its significance in our western culture.
Image Credits:
Image provided by Dennis Jarvis
