Many had to return to the plantation were they were held in bondage, this time for little pay (Kennedy, Kennedy 77-78).
Blacks were then subjugated to the rules and laws of Jim Crow in the south, thus being legally segregated. This means they could not live with whites, drink from the same fountain, eat in the same restaurants, or even use the same restrooms as whites. This continued until the 1950's and 60's when the civil rights movement kicked into full swing and changed the American political and cultural landscape forever (MSN Encarta).
This leads us to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Article VII of this act is the basic groundwork for what we know now as affirmative action. This act was passed so that race and /or gender would not be a deciding factor in government and public sector employment or in school admissions, and originally for blacks and women only, who at that time were considered the only ethnic and gender minority. As stated by Rita Chiu-Wai Tsang and Tracy L. Dietz "The Civil Rights Act of 1964 established procedures for the progressive inclusion of women and ethnic minorities into the American workforce." I do agree that minorities needed this act to give them an equal chance to have a good job and to get into school.
The Civil Rights Act was great at that point in time, but times do change, and in some cases laws need to change with those times. Understandably women and blacks did need some assistance or preference when applying for a public or private sector position, even a government contract. The track record speaks for its self. Women and blacks were continually discriminated against at all levels.
Now Article VII of the Civil Rights Act encompasses all new immigrants, Asian Americans, and Hispanics. These aforementioned groups, which have no significant history of being discriminated against here, in the United States, are entitled to these privileges. Now just to so call level the playing field the government also added net worth into the mix.
