Continued
 Affirmative
Action: called for companies and
institutions doing business with the federal
government to actively recruit minorities and
women.
 Challenges to Affirmative Action



Viewed as “reverse discrimination”
University of California Regents v. Allan Bakke
Supreme Court ruled that racial criteria could be
used as part of admissions but “fixed quotas”
could not be used
 The
largest Hispanic group was Mexican
Americans who worked on huge farms in the
South and West
 Many Hispanics arrived illegally


Lacked legal protection
Exploited by employers – worked under poor
conditions for little pay
 Cesar
Chavez and Dolores Huerta formed the
United Farm Workers



Organized a strike against California growers
Enlisted college students, churches, and civil
rights groups
17 million citizens boycotted grapes
 Bilingual
Education Act (1968): directed
school districts to set up classes for
immigrants in their own language –
“bilingualism”
 1970
– Native Americans one of the smallest
minority groups, less than 1% of population
 Average annual income was $1,000 less than
African Americans
 Unemployment was 10 times higher than
national rate
 Suffered from discrimination, limited
education, and lower life expectancy
 Declaration
of Indian Purpose (1961): called
for policies to create greater economic
opportunities on reservations
 Indian Civil Rights Act (1968): guaranteed
reservation residents protection under the
Bill of Rights but also local sovereignty
 American Indian Movement: militant group
who used symbolic protests


Alcatraz Island, California (1969) – 19 months
Wounded Knee, South Dakota (1973) – 70 days
 Indian
Self-Determination and Educational
Assistance Act (1975): increased funds for
education and extended local control
 Native Americans won a number of land and
water rights
 Supreme Court gave Native American groups
the power to tax businesses on the
reservations and perform other sovereign
activities

Resorts, electric plants, oil and gas wells,
casinos, etc.