Beginnings: A Brief History of Employment Discrimination in America

***DISCLAIMER: Welcome! This is a blog written by me, Michael Caligaris, a 2020 Juris Doctor Candidate from NKU Chase Law. This blog does not in any way constitute legal advice or services; instead, this blog is merely an examination of employment discrimination law in the US, past, present, and future. Enjoy!

Surprisingly, the birthplace of employment discrimination law did not take place on the floor of Congress. On the contrary, three Commander-in-Chiefs make up the vanguard of workplace equality--President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and John F. Kennedy, respectively.

First, during World War II, while husbands, fathers, brothers and sons left for the Western and Pacific Fronts, many Americans residing stateside shifted to new roles in order to support the war effort. With the boys abroad, America was desperate to satisfy the demanding military supply schedule. Accordingly, countless private factories transitioned their industry to output military equipment and supplies under short-term government contracts. These factories needed to fill their lines with workers, and lots of them...fast. Thankfully, Americans of all color and race truly wanted to answer their call to duty and satisfy the demanding supply schedule, and this placed cultural and societal opposites side by side on the assembly lines (Woo! Equality!).

However, this new environment was a significant change for many factory owners and factory bosses, who prior to the war had been private actors with carte blanche over how they interacted with their employees, which included discriminating on whatever basis they saw fit (Boo! Discrimination!). With this reality presented, President Roosevelt feared the worst: a  significant slow down in military manufacturing and production due to tense race relations in the workplace.

In order to combat the potential labor strikes, he signed Executive Order 8802, which prohibited private employers holding a government contract from discrimination on the basis of "race, color or national origin." This order marked the earliest historical milestone for mitigating discrimination in our employment. Although one could argue this Executive Order was not an altruistic or idealistic or even compassionate one, President Roosevelt at least gave the country a starting point for further discussion.

This discussion picked back up when President Truman had eyes set on the Korean War. In 1948, he signed Executive Order 9981, which provided "equal opportunity" to those in the military regardless of "race, color, religion, or national origin." Essentially, he integrated the military way ahead of schedule in comparison to Brown v. Board of Education, the watershed Supreme Court ruling that de-segregated public education and schools. Although Truman's foreign policy was inarguably jingoistic (for a ripe discussion on whether the second atom bomb dropped on Japan was necessary, please ask any Sophomore in any high school currently enrolled in U.S. History), he was overwhelmingly aware and empathetic about our race division at home. And for that, we thank you, Harry.

Then came Jack. When President Kennedy took office, America could no longer avoid the biggest change to its social fabric: racial equality. Rosa Parks. Little Rock. Dr. King. Progressive forces continued to rise up, despite the dark status quo overhead--to paraphrase Tupac Shakur, "roses were growing out of concrete" (Let the record reflect that I realize the potential for a very good Rosa Parks pun here). With the inevitable soon to come, President Kennedy implemented Executive Order 10925, prohibiting federal government contractors from discriminating based upon race, and also, most importantly, establishing the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (CEEO), which was an administrative body in charge of imposing sanctions for those who broke this executive order, i.e. white employers discriminating against black employees. What's important about this new oversight is that Kennedy's CEEO is very much the seedling to the now Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC), which today, oversees, at least procedurally, all federal employment discrimination cases. Although President Kennedy did not live to see the Civil Rights Act of 1964, his contribution nonetheless paved the path for those who would.

So, this brief history is to what end, you may ask? Well, this is my very first blog post so I had to start somewhere. But to a serious point, it is important to understand this history in order for me to address employment discrimination today--how it's evolved, how it's improved and how it is still lacking. Obviously, gender and sex weren't even considered during the era discussed above. Yet, there are still many other things that make-up an American that are innate and should be protected as well as celebrated rather than scrutinized, hated and mistreated.

Throughout the course of this blog, I hope to bring you, my reader, a better understanding of how employment discrimination works, how the law operates, how it is procedurally and substantively corrected....and even, how it could be better addressed.

For my present and future readers, I would love to hear your thoughts on how the workplace has changed over the course of your working career. Leave a comment below!

Until next time, treat everyone equally.

- Michael