Affirmative Action: The Consequences

Essay by yigsA+, April 2006

download word file, 8 pages 5.0

The United States is known for its acceptance of all religions and races because it is a free country. While we know it as a country with basic freedoms of speech, press, and religion as affirmed in the founding documents, it is only in the last century these freedoms have been expanded to include African Americans. It is unfortunate that when the United States was founded, slavery was acceptable among the nations of the world. Once slavery was abolished, it took the United States another one hundred years to create the civil rights movement that brought to the forefront the unresolved remnants of slavery. The 1960's saw the end of the abomination of segregation and inequality among the races. Perhaps out of subconscious guilt and belief in the 1960's ideals of equality, affirmative action was created. However, the degradation of slavery could not be reversed in one generation since parents pass on to their children their socioeconomic ideals and expectations.

The question arose, how much further could children of slaves expect to get? A century after abolition, the answer was not very far.

Until the civil rights movement, blacks could not expect a college education to the degree whites could. Black enrollment in college in the United States in 1960 was 9.3 percent, far below the 18 percent of the general population (U.S. Census Bureau). Historically, blacks found themselves living either in inner cities or in poor agricultural rural areas--both known for poor education systems. With two strikes against them, poor history and poor education, few blacks could expect to get into college or university. Throughout American history, college was the ticket to success. While early on in the 18th century, only the elite could go to college, by the 1960's, college was clearly the path to leadership positions...