Difference Between Affirmative Action And Slavery

Improved Essays
Affirmative action was signed by President John F. Kennedy it was first put into play on March 6, 1961 it called to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without concern to their race, creed, color, or national origin. Forward to 2016 where it has become a problem within college applications where colleges are now more focused on having a diverse student body rather than the quality of the student themselves. While some colleges believe that affirmative action is helping minorities it can seem condescending applying that minorities cannot achieve their objectives with their abilities or hard work. This implied meaning is similar to the belief that slaveholders argued that slavery was a ‘positive good’ that civilized blacks and raised them in every dimension of life. The arguments for affirmative action and slavery similar in the both argue that it helps to bring out potential in …show more content…
While both ideas followed around race each has a different way of approaching race while one favors opportunities the other favors servitude. The slave trade 's had a negative cultural impact on. On one hand slavery separated families and took mothers away from husbands and children. Slavery was a one stop shop and until it was abolished it was almost impossible to be free. That differs greatly from affirmative action where it created opportunities for those who had none. It encourages the pursuit for higher education and pushes students to rise above what is expected. Affirmative action also differs from slavery in its push for equality among schools. Furthermore, where slavery is now looked down upon as a dark part of history affirmative action was and still is seen by some as a way for those of less opportunistic households to have some leverage in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Affirmative action is probably one of the most misunderstood employment practices that we have discussed so far in class. When I first heard of affirmative action, others described as something beneficial only to African Americans. It appeared to be a quota system where you had to hire a certain number of black people in order to keep the government off your back. Some made it sound like the every black person benefiting from affirmative action were unskilled and undeserving. The main purpose of affirmative action was to reverse the long term effects of past policies that may have had discriminatory effect on individuals now protected by employment law.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is a heated age and the policy of affirmative action is a controversial topic. Ever since it was first introduced in the 1960s, the court has affected the use of affirmative action significantly because its rulings upheld the policy’s constitutionally and made it more acceptable to the public. To begin with, it is important to acknowledge that the court was not the only arena in which affirmative action policies have been challenged. It has also been challenged in arenas such as college admission and the job application process. In my opinion, the case of Brown v. Board of Education had a significant impact on the introducing the affirmative action.…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Argument of Strong Affirmative Action Between Hettinger and Pojman After the era of the Civil Rights Movement swept how people think, Americans and business have tried to find ways in order to help promote diversity and equality into establishments such as the workforce and higher education. One of the ways that America has decided to do this is by promoting affirmative Action. Affirmative action a policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, also know as positive discrimination. We encounter two authors that both seem to have different opinions on the view of affirmative action. Edwin C. Hettinger is on the side calling affirmative action “reverse racism” itself suggests that it is discrimination: discrimination towards…

    • 1047 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Affirmative action was originally intended for families who were victimized from slavery and Jim Crow laws in the South. College admissions advisor no longer base their affirmative action givens on the Jim Crow laws which ended in 1965. They base their givens now on race and ethnicity and which being the minority comes into place. However, the process of affirmative action in higher education has been given to people whom families were not discriminated against by society and can damn near pay for college.…

    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In 1965 less than 5% of college students in the U.S were black, John Marshall wrote to the Supreme Court about respect of civil rights and the 14th Amendment. The Editor wrote back to Mr. Marshall about how segregation is ending and times are changing the Editor made powerful points about segregation. Also explain to Mr. Marshal how the 14th amendments are being followed and how everyone is not color blind And makes it appoint that Negros have every right has a white man does. To begin with, President Kennedy was the first to use the term “affirmative action” the government contractors hire members of minority groups, universities have joined the effort to provide more opportunities to minorities. “Times are changing”.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    President John F. Kennedy initially took Affirmative Action to ensure the equality for all races mainly for jobs and educational institutions. He did this through his Executive Order 10925, which is known as Affirmative Action. This policy asserts that in jobs and educational institutions, racial preferences will be used in their admissions process. While proponents of Affirmative Action claim that levels of diversity in college campuses increase with Affirmative Action, the reality is that many underrepresented minority students are being mismatched into the colleges and universities, ultimately leading them to a path of failure and because of this, there will be less underrepresented minorities (or URMs for the purpose of this) graduating…

    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Affirmative action is the act of hiring or encouraging the promotion of minorities, often dealing with race. Many colleges across the United States offer “minority scholarships”. This is a form of affirmative action. These schools offer scholarships to the lesser common with the hopes of creating a more diverse atmosphere. Colleges should not only accept those of solely one race.…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Affirmative Action is one of the last policies standing in the way of what the great Civil Rights activists fought for. Blacks then did not want to be treated better. They wanted to be treated like a White person, like equals. Whites do not receive the benefits of Affirmative Action. Whites are not granted “the equivalent of hundreds of SAT points” Martin Luther King Jr. stated that an “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”…

    • 1359 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By gaining the broader and more diverse view of the world, these people now have a wider range of knowledge and experience to make them more empathetic and able to understand people who aren’t similar to themselves. Another argument to keep the laws on affirmative action as they are is that those who are admitted into the program do better in life, after having gone to better schools, than those who went to less rigorous schools even with similar SAT scores and qualifications, as is explained in an article by Richard O. Lampert of the New York Times. The article mentioned above goes on to explain that people who have similar qualifications going out of high school, but are admitted into more rigorous schools are usually more successful in life and go on to have higher paying jobs. The article also explains how mismatched minority students also have a similar graduation rate and post school job satisfaction as their white…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the article “Does Affirmative Action Do What It Should?” an interesting alternate perspective concerning affirmative action is presented. In the article, Dan Slater starts off by describing affirmative action. They are a set of policies used by universities across the nation as a means to recruit minority students whose predecessors have been subject to racial discrimination within the United States. These practices have been put into place to “even-out” the overwhelmingly off-balance number of white-success-stories to minority-success-stories ratio.…

    • 1548 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Schools are not searching for people who will have a good job and be able to have a life after college. The Michigan Law School continues to accept minorities with poor LSAT scores so that the “class looks right, even if it does not perform right” (Clarence). Not only that, Affirmative Action is patronizing minorities. Meaning that they have a lower standard than whites as if they are unable of producing the same quality of work. Also, this patronization of minorities leads to businesses being brought down because of Affirmative Action (Affirmative Action).…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Affirmative action, by definition, is an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially in relation to employment or education. Using varying instruments and policies, Affirmative Action aims to help underrepresented groups have a better job opportunities or college admissions. Generations of people have been disadvantaged by institutionalized discrimination and one way to remedy this is to place a policy that evens out the playing field. There has been numerous legal cases against affirmative action concerning college admissions, and a few have made it as far as the Supreme Court including Bakke v. Regents, Univ. of California (1978), Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), Parents Involved v. Seattle School District (2007), and most recently Fisher v. University of Texas (2013 & 2016).…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Affirmative Action is reverse discrimination to people who aren't in minority groups. Colleges should not continue using Affirmative Action. It allows somebody who is less educated to go because of their race, and not their accomplishments. In the future we want to see their accomplishments. Now there is no need for it because Affirmative Action is making discrimination…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    College and Universities should search more alternatives to give priority to minorities such as African American students who are discriminated by other social groups. An example is to start proposing more laws or projects such as the affirmative action, which was approval in November 1996. This amended prohibit state governmental institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity, specifically in public education (Korbe 768). If schools create different types of protests and campaigns will help to reduce institutions to use race as an important factor to admission…

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Affirmative action policies allow for equal opportunity and throughout history have helped end discrimination in the workforce as well as many different type of organizations. Minorities are given the opportunity to compete for job opportunities and admissions to educational institutions. However, not everyone agrees with these types of policies and believe that this is a form of “reverse discrimination” against white individuals (1). These individuals argue that minorities that include people of color and women are given preference and although the qualifications may be the same amongst all, the minorities will be granted the opportunity simply because of their skin color or gender. In “Affirmative Action and Fairness” Robert Fullinwider discusses how affirmative action is viewed differently…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics