The fight over DEI didn’t begin in boardrooms or HR departments. It has roots in slavery, segregation, and the long push to open up good jobs to Black Americans. From wartime labor policy to federal hiring mandates, every wave of change shaped how companies hire and promote. Today’s backlash is just the latest chapter.
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Young Adult Man receiving training in arc welding, National Youth Administration (NYA) Work Center, … More Brooklyn, New York, USA, Fritz Henle, U.S. Office of War Information/U.S. Farm Security Administration, August 1942. (Photo by: Circa Images/GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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PRE-Modern Black American Labor
But before we go back, let’s look at skilled labor to frame things: Construction is one of the largest sectors. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black workers are about 6% of the construction workforce, despite being 12% of the total US labor force. (I use this industry because it’s ridiculous to suggest that Black people are LESS skilled by half at plumbing, carpentry etc.) Before the end of slavery, Blacks were a large part (in many states, the largest) of the skilled labor workforce, think carpenters, plumbers, masons, blacksmiths, etc. They were often the entirety of the service economy (waiters, cooks, barbers, etc). Meanwhile, Blacks were effectively prohibited from professions such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers.
With the end of slavery, Black worker slowly began to lose their footing in skilled labor. For example, during slavery, the blacksmith profession was largely a Black profession. By 1900, African Americans were essentially excluded from the job of blacksmith and were being excluded from skilled trades.
Trouble With Woodrow
circa 1916: Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) the 28th President of the United States of America. … More (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
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President Woodrow Wilson was known for being a white supremacist. Remember, he screened Birth of a Nation, the violently racist film that revived the Klu Klux Klan. Wilson’s administration marked the most significant regression in progress for Black Americans. Shortly after taking office, Wilson implemented racial segregation across federal agencies. Black employees had previously worked side by side their white colleagues. With Wilson Black folk were divided into separate offices, restrooms, and cafeterias. He also fired and demoted Black workers.
When Black leaders protested, Wilson defended his segregation rules as a way to reduce workplace “friction.” Wilson rejected accusations of discrimination. He argued that segregating the federal government would improve efficiency.
NEW DEAL , Raw Deals, and the precursor to Affirmative Action
(Original Caption) 2/10/1948-Washington, D.C.: Negro leaders confer with House Speaker Joseph Martin … More (R-MA) in an effort to remove Jim Crow restrictions from the Universal Military Training bill. The negroes are all members of Committee training. Left to right are Bill Worthy, Jr., committee member; Philip Randolph, Treasurer; Martin; Albert Black, Washington Chairman of committee and Joseph H. B. Evans, YMCA Secretary and committee member. ORIGINAL CAPTION
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs provided some economic relief to Black folk during the Great Depression. However, he segregated programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corp work camps, keep domestic and agricultural workers from getting Social Security benefits. FDR is a double-edged sword for Black empowerment. FDR signed Executive Order 8802 which explicitly banned worker discrimination. “There shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” This executive order is seen as the precursor to later affirmative action policies. It’s one of the first times the federal government acknowledged employment discrimination.
Roosevelt’s successor Harry Truman would desegregate the army, using an executive order. Black labor leaders had become increasingly powerful during Roosevelt’s administration, and leader like A. Philip Randolph, leader of the Pullman Porters Union, increased their political muscle under Roosevelt and Truman.
JFK Coins Affirmative Action
Civil rights leaders meet with U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Oval Office, White House, after the … More March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., USA, photograph by Warren K. Leffler, August 28, 1963. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Affirmative action as we know it today began when President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925. The order instructed federal contractors to “take affirmative action” to ensure employment practices were free from racial discrimination. This was the first time the phrase “affirmative action” appeared in U.S. policy.
“take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” —John F. Kennedy Executive Order 10925
At the time, the term didn’t imply much except that Kennedy actually wanted contractors to DO SOMETHING. This was before the idea of quotas or race-based preferences. The administration was trying to make a real proactive effort to remove barriers to fair hiring. The affirmative part is important because the administration was trying to prevent discrimination as opposed to punishing discrimination after the fact. That was new.
“take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.”
John F. Kennedy Executive Order 10925
Affirmative action meant government contractors were required to actively review, improve, and enforce non-discriminatory hiring practices. The policy which Kennedy implemented in his first 100 days. Kennedy established the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, led by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. This committee was supposed to ensure that federal agencies and contractors followed through on recruiting, hiring, and promoting workers without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin.
LYNDON and DICK Prove Effective
Lyndon B. Johnson shows up in the history of DEI and Affirmative Action, playing a key role in making it a part of federal policy. The policy had meaning. His Executive Order 11246 used the key phrase “take affirmative action” and called on contractors to ensure employees are treated without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Johnson added sex. His 1965 commencement speech at Howard University (aside from his resignation speech, probably his most iconic).
“You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race, and then say, ‘You are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.”
While Johnson’s successor is known for his Southern strategy, Richard Milhouse Nixon was an amazing pragmatic and effective when it came to affirmative action. In 1969, Nixon’s administration created the Philadelphia Plan. It required government
(Original Caption) Roy Wilkins, Executive Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement … More of Colored People (NAACP) meets with President Richard M. Nixon at the White House here. Wilkins is the first Negro leader to meet with the new President.
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contractors in Philadelphia to hire minority workers under specific goals and timetables. This was the first real use of numerical targets to address discrimination in employment. Nixon’s approach though had levels. It promoted workplace diversity. It also was meant to weaken the power of labor unions that were resisting an integrated workplace. Nixon might be the high water mark for affirmative action beyond the federal government.
I don’t want affirmative action – too much affirmative, not enough action.
—Paul Mooney
Importantly, as Sarah Gonzalez and I reported in one of my favorite Planet Money episodes, it was the 70s that women were entering the office work en masse, and advocating for union for office workers.
From Affirmative Action to DEI: Navigating the Backlash
By the 1980s and 1990s, affirmative action the policy was under attack, by critics for leading to “reverse discrimination”. In 1996, California passed Proposition 209. It banned public institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity in hiring and education. Similar laws followed in other states. This is when civil rights and labor organizations began looking for alternative ways to promote diversity.
ME.Protest/209.1016.GKUCI students carry a coffin to symbolize the death of diversity, during a … More march at UCI to protest proposition 209. Fifteen students marched around the UCI campus for about one hour. A rally against prop 209 was held after the march in which about 75 people attended . At the California University at Irvine , Irvine. Reporter:TBA (Photo by Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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t was in this time that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) started gaining traction. Unlike affirmative action, which often focused on numbers, how many factory foremen are women for instance. DEI tried creating inclusive cultures where diverse perspectives are valued. Instead of race-based hiring or admissions policies, DEI tried to ensure fairness and foster belonging.
Companies began establishing DEI programs, hiring Chief Diversity Officers, and launching training on unconscious bias and inclusive leadership. This was supposed to be more about legal compliance with anti-discrimination but to address systemic inequities and build workplaces where everyone has an equal chance to succeed.
DEI has changed how companies and institutions approach the idea of diversity. It turns out as research suggests that white women have been the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action and DEI efforts. The policies aimed at increasing diversity in hiring and promotions have disproportionately helped women, particularly white women, gain access to leadership roles and higher-paying jobs. Despite these efforts, Black professionals still face barriers detailed in Breaking Barriers And Achieving Equality For Black Workers
“I regard affirmative action as pernicious, a system that had wonderful ideals when it started but was almost immediately abused for the benefit of white middle-class women.”
Camille Paglia
For Black Americans, the impact of DEI has been far less meaningful. Black professionals remain underrepresented in executive leadership, boardrooms, and high-paying industries like tech and finance. The wage gap between Black and white workers has widened. Many companies despite DEI have done little to break down structural barriers Black employees face. Whether it’s construction trades that are less diverse in 2025 than 1915 or vast industries such as finance, and media remain locked to Black folk. Black male economics reporters seem rarer than the doo-doo bird.
Black Labor & Economic Rights: A Historical Timeline
1619-1865: Enslavement & Early Struggles for Employment
Stereoscopic image showing a young boy with three men in the background, standing in a cotton field … More with sacks for gathering picked cotton, United States, 1892. (Photo by Benjamin W. Kilburn/Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
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1619: The first enslaved Africans arrive in Virginia, marking the beginning of forced Black labor in the American economy.
1837: Founding of Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, the first Historically Black College in the U.S.
1844: Macon Bolling Allen becomes the first Black lawyer admitted to the bar (passed in Maine, licensed in Massachusetts).
1847: Dr. David Jones Peck graduates from Rush Medical College in Chicago, becoming the first Black person in America to earn a medical degree.
1863: The Emancipation Proclamation frees enslaved people in Confederate states, allowing some to enter paid labor markets, though opportunities remain limited.
1865: The 13th Amendment abolishes slavery, but Black Codes in Southern states restrict employment opportunities for Black workers.
1866-1940s: Early Legal Protections & Labor Organizing
1866: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 grants Black Americans the right to make
New Orleans, LA – USA – 03-22-2024: Sign commemorating site of Homer Plessy boarding a train that … More prompted the landmark Plessy v Ferguson court decision
contracts and own property, aiming to provide legal workplace protections.
1896: Plessy v. Ferguson upholds racial segregation under “separate but equal,” reinforcing discrimination in employment and public accommodations.
1913-1921: President Woodrow Wilson re-segregates the federal workforce, demoting or firing Black employees. Activist William Monroe Trotter confronts Wilson over these policies.
1925: A. Philip Randolph founds the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), one of the first successful Black labor unions.
1930s-1940s: The New Deal introduces early workplace rights, though Black workers face discrimination in employment programs.
1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802, banning discrimination in defense industries and establishing the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC).
1948: President Harry Truman issues Executive Order 9981, desegregating the U.S. military and setting a precedent for workplace integration.
1950s-1970s: Civil Rights & Workplace Equality
1954: Brown v. Board of Education rules school segregation unconstitutional, indirectly influencing workplace integration by challenging segregationist policies.
1961: President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order 10925, introducing affirmative action and requiring government contractors to ensure equal employment opportunity.
The Civil Rights Act of being enacted by President Lyndon Johnson, July 2, 1964. Civil rights … More legislation in the United States, that outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. (Photo by: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans workplace discrimination under Title VII, creating the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce integration.
1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, requiring federal contractors to take affirmative action in hiring minority workers.
1969: President Richard Nixon expands affirmative action with the Philadelphia Plan, requiring specific hiring goals for Black workers in federal contracts.
1980s-Present: Struggles & Opposition
1986: The Supreme Court, in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, rules that workplace harassment is a violation of Title VII, reinforcing protections against discrimination.
1991: The Civil Rights Act strengthens workplace discrimination laws, allowing employees to seek damages for intentional bias.
1995: Adarand v. Peña forces stricter limits on federal affirmative action programs.
2003: Grutter v. Bollinger upholds affirmative action in college admissions, supporting workplace diversity pipelines.
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 11: Steve Forbes and Lilly Ledbetter attend the 2016 Forbes Women’s Summit – … More Opening Reception on May 11, 2016 in New York, New York. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage)
2009: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act extends the time frame for filing pay discrimination claims, helping workers challenge wage gaps.
2013: Shelby County v. Holder weakens the Voting Rights Act, indirectly affecting Black political and economic power.
2020: COVID-19 hits Black workers hardest, exposing deep racial disparities in jobs, wages, and workplace safety.
2021: President Biden orders federal agencies to prioritize diversity and inclusion in hiring.
2023: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard effectively ends affirmative action in college admissions, threatening workplace diversity efforts.
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