When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-century AmericaA groundbreaking work that exposes the twisted origins of affirmative action. When Affirmative Action Was White demonstrates that all the key programs passed during the New Deal and Fair Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s were created in a deeply discriminatory manner. This was no accident. With the United States still in an era of legal segregation, the powerful southern wing of the Democratic Party provided the framework for Social Security, the GI Bill, and landmark labor laws that helped create the foundations of the modern middle class. Through mechanisms that specifically excluded maids and farmworkers and through laws that kept administration in local hands, the gap between blacks and whites actually widened despite postwar prosperity. The publication of this deeply disturbing work promises to create a national debate on the meaning of affirmative action and the responsibility of government. |
What people are saying - Write a review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - rivkat - LibraryThingThe New Deal was a devil’s bargain: major programs to alleviate the suffering of the Depression, but with Southern-demanded local control so that whites could continue to control blacks and deny them ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - johnjmeyer - LibraryThingCritical to understanding the existing gaps between African Americans and whites in today's society, this book addresses the deliberate policy decisions made during the New Deal and the Fair Deal to ... Read full review
Contents
Doctor of Laws | xv |
Welfare in Black and White | 19 |
Rules for Work | 43 |
Divisions in War | 66 |
White Veterans Only | 97 |
Johnsons Ambitions Powells Principles Thoughts on Renewing Affirmative Action | 126 |
To Fulfill These Rights | 155 |
Notes | 164 |
Acknowledgments | 203 |
Index | 205 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
administration affirmative action African Americans agricultural Army authority benefits Bill Board Cited cities civil rights close colleges color Committee Congress Court Deal decisions Democratic Department despite discrimination discussion early economic effect efforts employers employment equal exclusion Fair families federal force Further gains higher House important individuals industries institutions Integration issue Jim Crow Johnson Journal Justice labor later legislation less limited lived majority March military minority Negro North noted observed offered officers opportunity organized Party percent period political practices President race racial racism reason Record Relations relief Report representatives result schools Second Security segregation Senate social soldiers South southern standards tion troops unions United University Press veterans vote wages Washington welfare workers World York
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-century America |
| Author | Ira Katznelson |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company, 2005 |
| ISBN | 0393052133, 9780393052138 |
| Length | 238 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / United States / General Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |