Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity

It may be difficult for the younger generations to comprehend the idea of discrimination, and the turmoil our country once faced in its efforts to end the intolerant treatment of our fellow Americans. Part of this is due to the massive strides our country has taken since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 took effect nearly 50 years ago. Our current President is of African American decent, we not only have women sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court, but minority Justices as well. Still, with the leaps and bounds we as a country have made, discrimination still exists in not only our daily lives, but in the job market as well.

Anti-discrimination legislation has been part of our country’s history for 145 years. In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in hopes to put an end to inequality. This Act allowed all Americans “equal benefits of all laws, regardless of race” (Bohlander, 2010). Decades later, Congress once again went to work to further protect Americans against discrimination by passing the Unemployment Relief Act in 1933. Per this Act, it “prohibited employment discrimination on account of race, color, or creed” (Bohlander, 2010). In 1941, Executive Order 8802 was signed by President Roosevelt to guarantee equal employment opportunities in WWII defense contracts (Bohlander, 2010). Even with these three laws, discrimination was still very much prevalent. Everyday Americans continued their bigotry; employers continued their racist employment practices because

Nondiscrimination laws often failed to give any enforcement power to the agency charged with upholding the law. Second, the laws that were passed frequently neglected to list specific discriminatory practices or methods for their correction. Third, employers covered...

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...ot deliver them” (Idaho, 2007).

References

About Us - Idaho Commission on Human Rights. (n.d.). Human Rights - Idaho Commission on Human Rights - The State of Idaho. Retrieved November 20, 2011, from http://humanrights.idaho.gov/about_us/about_us.html

Bohlander, G. W., & Snell, S. (2010). Managing human resources (15th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Laws Enforced by EEOC. (n.d.). US EEOC Home Page. Retrieved November 20, 2011, from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/index.cfm

Statutes. (n.d.). Idaho Legislature. Retrieved November 20, 2011, from http://legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/Title67/T67CH59SECT67-5907.htm

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved November 20, 2011, from http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/