The American society was constructed on a foundation of social inequality. Naturally, this inequality lent itself to a social hierarchy predicated on perceptions of race. At its most extreme, this social system created race-based slavery.

The abolition of slavery, however, did not solve racial discrimination.

Persisting to this day, discriminatory practices are still present in education, employment, law enforcement, and many private interactions. For this reason, Affirmative Action has been utilized in an attempt to remedy discriminatory practices that have prevented equal opportunities from being made available to historically marginalized communities (such as Native Americans, black Americans, Latins, and women). Affirmative action involves treating a group of people differently in order to account for the obstacles that discriminatory practices present.

This dossier will provide an overview of how affirmative action has been implemented, how it has developed, and how it might change in the future. It proceeds with providing a historical context, a summary of important legislation passed by congress or created by executive order, followed by the different methods of affirmative action, subsequently describing how Affirmative Action functions in practice and what the current debate is about.