Affirmative action requires employers and college/ university admissions procedures to give special consideration to minorities and female applicants. The purpose of affirmative action, as it was originally conceived, is to reverse the detrimental effects that discrimination had on minorities prior to 1964. Through subsequent Supreme Court rulings, affirmative action policies cannot impose quotas or inflict reverse discrimination. The goal of affirmative action policies is to increase diversity in employment and educational arenas.

Affirmative action was first mentioned on March 6, 1961, as part of President John F. Kennedy's Executive Order 10925, which mandated the creation of the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. However, it would be four years before affirmative action was brought to the public's attention.

The Civil Rights Act was signed into law on July ...