This study examines the struggles of African Americans for economic equality. It argues that in their struggle for jobs and economic opportunities, civil rights activists rejected gradualism in favor of rapid gains, which generated widespread opposition in various segments of society. Civil rights leaders initially focused on grassroots activities and antidiscrimination legislation to achieve economic and social equality. With the passage of laws, the issuing of executive orders, and a general decline in grassroots protests, however, they increasingly relied on the courts and the federal bureaucracy to achieve their goals. In addition, the failure to achieve more than token progress toward equal employment opportunity convinced many civil rights leaders of the inadequacy of vague promises, and beginning in the 1960s, they came to champion more sweeping objectives that often included the use of numerical goals and timetables

As civil rights leaders and government bodies moved beyond the notion of simple nondiscrimination, opposition to the new goals and strategies arose in many circles, including labor unions and certain groups of intellectuals. As a result, affirmative action became one of the most controversial and volatile political issues of the 1980s and 1990s

(Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University, 1985; revised with new preface)