Affirmative Action

redlining

A discriminatory real estate practice in North America in which members of minority groups are prevented from obtaining money to purchase homes or property in predominantly white neighborhoods. The practice derived its name from the red lines depicted on cadastral maps used by real estate agents and developers. Today, redlining is officially illegal.

Levittown

In 1947, William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in suburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. Levittown became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.

historically disadvantaged

discriminated against in the past

Slavery and Jim Crow Laws, poll tax, grandfather clause

historical injustices experienced by African Americans

hurdles

obstacles

institutionalized

officially placed into a structured system or set of practices

affirmative action

policies that provide special access to opportunities, usually in education and employment to members of groups that have been discriminated against.

quota(s)

specific number that has to be met, considered unlawful by Supreme Court

John F. Kennedy

the president who coined (= first used) the term

Lyndon B. Johnson

the president who started affirmative action by ordering government agencies to pursue policies that increase the employment of minorities in their own ranks

lingering

to remain or stay on in a place longer than is usual or expected, as if from reluctance to leave

redress

to remedy or to set right an unfair situation