Crises of Summer 1963

The summer of 1963 -- remembered mostly for the March on Washington -- was marked in the construction industry by the arrival of affirmative action. The author doesn't believe he had ever heard the term before, but its entry into their lives was truly dramatic and, a half century later, worth r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ENR 2013-08, Vol.271 (5), p.60
Main Author: Florman, Samuel C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affirmative action
Construction industry
History
Reverse discrimination
School buses
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Summary:The summer of 1963 -- remembered mostly for the March on Washington -- was marked in the construction industry by the arrival of affirmative action. The author doesn't believe he had ever heard the term before, but its entry into their lives was truly dramatic and, a half century later, worth recalling now. The story of affirmative action -- challenged by a backlash against "reverse discrimination" -- has now been playing itself out for 50 years. Philosophers, jurists, politicians and ordinary concerned citizens, have had much to consider, discuss and debate. But in his small world of construction, when one of those yellow school buses rolled up to a building site and a group of men piled out demanding jobs, the niceties of constitutional law were not on anybody's mind.
ISSN:0891-9526