1978: Affirmative Action

Beginning in the 1960s, the term “affirmative action” was used when referring to policies and initiatives aimed at compensating for past discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. President John F. Kennedy first used the phrase in 1961, in an executive order calling on the federal government to hire more African Americans.

After Allan Bakke, a white California man, applied twice without success to the University of California at Davis, he sued U.C. Davis, claiming that his grades and test scores were higher than those of minority students who were admitted and accusing UC Davis of “reverse discrimination.” In June 1978, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the use of strict racial quotas was unconstitutional, and that Bakke should be admitted; on the other hand, it held that institutions of higher education could rightfully use race as a criterion in admissions decisions to ensure diversity.