The term affirmative action was coined during the administration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy by Hobart Taylor, Jr., a Black attorney. Taylor attended the 1961 inaugural ball hoping to meet Kennedy’s vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, who would later ask him to rewrite what became Executive Order 10925. In his draft, Taylor used the term affirmative action for its alliteration and malleable meaning.
Where does the term affirmative action come from?
Who does affirmative action protect?
Affirmative action in the United States protects people on the grounds of race, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, and age. It does this by giving limited preferences to groups that have faced long-standing discrimination in job hiring, admission to institutions of higher education, the awarding of government contracts, and other social benefits.
