Affirmatvie Action :: essays research papers

The History of mixture in the States Known as the Melting Pot, America is a country with a more diverse population than any(prenominal) other. But America also has a long, painful past of diverseness that has been based on sex, race, color, disability, religion, sexual orientation and various other characteristics that undulate from the average white American citizen. Through the course of studys, government has played a major role in trying to correct the past wrongs cod to discrimination by enacting legislation and adding amendments to the Constitution. The primary purpose of these measures is to enforce non-discriminating participation practices and to encourage, and sometimes force, companies to increase their representation of women and minority group members in the workplace. This head for the hills toward equal opportunity has come about through numerous measures enacted throughout our history. A few of those policies, such as Affirmative Action, demand very contro versial issues that many employers hope to see changed, or do away wi th all(a) together. For the present time, however, the trend continues in almost every state and is enforced by law. The effects of diversity on our nation can be traced back to the civil war point. This period of upheaval is a perfect example of the struggle many Americans went through to free black slaves. The blacks were made slaves in the states for a number of reasons. The blacks were a representation of difference, therefore the whites viewed them as being unequal. We also seem to business that which is different, so we try to keep them down. The blacks represented such a abject percentage of the population that it was easy for the white slave owners to control them. The diversity issue among the blacks and whites created a civil war within our nation that pit friends and family against one another, and our whole nation was in turmoil. Many lives were lost conflict for the freedom of the slaves. On Se ptember 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery and declared all slaves free by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation (the thirteenth amendment to our constitution).( Sandburg, 17) An excerpt from the proclamation follows . . . That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free .