The Beginning of Economical Struggle
             It is the intent of this report; to investigate the economical struggles of African Americans and minorities in the United States, the implementation of affirmative action in our laws and the exploits of the law concerning an equal employment opportunity versus the sling blade of Proposition 209. In 1940, 87 percent of American blacks lived below the poverty line. By 1960, five years before the Civil Rights acts and 10 years before the first affirmative action policies, the figure was down to 47 percent. That was a greater and more rapid decline than what took place over the next 35 years, when the black poverty rate came down to 26 percent.
             In 1940, only 5 percent of black men and 6.4 percent of black women were in middle-class occupations. By 1970, the figures were 22 percent for black and 36 percent for black women larger again the increases that took place in the 20 years after affirmative was put in place, when the figures reached 32 percent and 59 percent respectively. These figures come from a massive new scholarly work, "America in Black and White," by two civil rights veterans, Stephen and Abigail Thernstrom, who have reconstructed the history of racial progress and conflict in the postwar era and examined the impact of affirmative action solutions.
             Gaboury, Fred. 'The State of Black America 1996': Bad and getting worse.
             People's Weekly World 30 November 1996
             New York – Advance copies of the 21st edition of the Urban League's The State of Black America were made available to the press on November 22. In nine essays discussing the questions of unemployment and underemployment; infant mortality and life expectancy; income, housing and health, the report documents its conclusion that the fundamental question facing Black America and millions of other Americans is poverty.
             The League has always recognized the centrality of poverty as th...