Sugrue seminar addresses history of affirmative action

History Professor Thomas Sugrue looked back at the impetus and history of affirmative action during a speech to students and faculty Tuesday on the history of the controversial social policy. During his address in the History Lounge at 3401 Walnut Street, Sugrue gave a sneak peek of his new book on the topic, Racial Integration and its Critics in 20th Century America. The event was part of the University's Modern America Works-in-Progress Seminar series. Sugrue began his speech, "The Tangled Roots of Affirmative Action," by tracing the historical foundations of affirmative action in the 1940s and 1950s. He described a time when "blacks and whites alike came to view an empowered federal government as the guarantor of positive as well as negative rights." He then delved into how affirmative action -- a policy of preferentially-hiring minorities and women to make up for past racial and sexual biases -- emerged as a response to the shortcomings of post-World War II racial liberalism. Using the construction industry's methodology for recruiting new employees as an example, Sugrue focused on the racially unbalanced workforce of the time. The "networking" phenomenon -- in which blacks were systematically overlooked for jobs solely as a result of nepotism by their white employers -- led to a racially-segregated workforce in which blacks were limited to low paying jobs, Sugrue explained. Sugrue also pointed out an irony in the high-tension affirmative action issue. Many activists in the mid-20th century embraced the fast-fading liberalism of the 1940s, he explained, while at the same time criticizing the liberalism of affirmative action measures. During a question-and-answer session following the speech, several audience members offered Sugrue feedback on his work. Responding to a question on how his research and book apply to today's affirmative action practices, Sugrue explained that "rights are an end, as well as a means, essential to the notion of a just society." He said black liberals believed they had been slighted following the end of slavery, and their prevailing attitude suggested that white America owed them compensation in the workplace that would put them on equal footing with the rest of the society. Much of the audience reacted favorably to Sugrue's speech. History graduate student Mark Santow called the seminar "fascinating." "It provided a real historical perspective on affirmative action lacking in present debates," he said. And Sugrue said the seminar "gave me an opportunity to test my work-in-progress with a well-informed yet sympathetic audience."