<P> Affirmative action policies were developed to address long histories of discrimination faced by minorities and women , which reports suggest produced corresponding unfair advantages for whites and males . They first emerged from debates over non-discrimination policies in the 1940s and during the Civil Rights Movement . These debates led to federal executive orders requiring non-discrimination in the employment policies of some government agencies and contractors in the 1940s onwards , and to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited racial discrimination in firms with over 25 employees . The first federal policy of race - conscious affirmative action was the Revised Philadelphia Plan , which required government contractors to set `` goals and timetables '' for integrating and diversifying their workforce . Similar policies began to emerge through a mix of voluntary practices and federal and state policies in employment and education . Affirmative action as a practice was partially upheld by the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger ( 2003 ) , while the use of racial or gender quotas for college admissions was concurrently ruled unconstitutional by the Court in Gratz v. Bollinger ( 2003 ) . </P>
when did the new approach of affirmative action emerge in america
in the 1940s and during the Civil Rights Movement