EEOC: The Early Years (Transcript)

These days it can sometimes be easy to take the right of equal employment for granted. It hasn't always been so easy. The movement toward legal equality in this country has been a slow and sometimes painful one. Early government efforts to move the country away from job discrimination had little impact. As far back as the 1930's, the depression era government employment and training programs, contained anti-discrimination clauses. None, not even the Unemployment Relief Act of 1933, had any real enforcement power. Even the most influential men in the country, seemed to lack the power to make significant changes. President Roosevelt's Fair Employment Practices Commission, established in 1941, lacked the authority it needed to make equal employment opportunity a reality during World War II. And while President Eisenhower would later recognize what he called "an urgent need to guarantee fair treatment to government job seekers," even his newly formed Civil Rights Commission, reported a strong, continuing pattern of discrimination, by the government, itself. The situation was little better on Capitol Hill, where even weak employment bills were debated and defeated. It was beginning to seem that for some, the American dream might remain out of reach. But that dream had been deferred for too long....for long enough. Through sit-ins, walk-outs, boycotts and marches, an entire population began to move.... and to move this country with it, away from a glaring contradiction. Separate, but equal, could no longer be the American equation of justice. Clearly, the time had come for national policy to finally break down barriers based on race, sex, color, religion and national origin. There was no other choice for a country with an international reputation of freedom and equality. By June, 1963, President Kennedy had sent Congress a civil rights bill which dealt with the critically important issues of equal employment, education, public accommodations and voting.

President Kennedy speaks.

"We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and a people. We have a right to expect that the Negro community will be responsible; will uphold the law. But they have a right to expect that the law will be fair; that the Constitution will be color blind, as Justice Harlan said at the turn of the century. This is what we're talking about, and this is a matter which concerns this country, and what it stands for, and in meeting it, I ask the support of all of our citizens."

Later, President Johnson assured civil rights leaders, that the bill would become law.

President Johnson speaks

"...because millions of Americans are still barred from full participation in the American dream. We are all equal before God; we are all equal in the eyes of the law, and if I have anything to do about it in this country, we are all going to be equal in seeking a job."

By February, 1964, the House had passed a strong civil rights bill, which, among other things, provided protection for equal employment opportunity. That provision called for the establishment of a five-member, bi-partisan Commission to work at eliminating job discrimination. But before the bill passed the Senate, a strong Southern block took away the Commission authority to file suit. By June 2, 1964, after more than 500 hours of Senate filibustering, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Shortly after that the first Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was formed. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., named as the first Chairman, the EEOC mission was launched.

EEOC employee Susie Foshee speaks.

"Those of us who were fortunate enough to be here, had a feeling of a mission for someone personally whom we knew."

The challenge was to transform the spirit and drive of the civil rights movement, into long awaited results. It was a tough challenge. The newly formed agency had expected to receive 2,000 discrimination charges in its first year. Instead, it received nearly 9,000.

EEOC employee John Rayburn speaks.

"Come in, drop your cases off. I would review them. One or two other people might review them. Critique them; try to pull more facts; so that we would not have to try to find someone long distance. Take another batch of charges; make a call to your family... and go on."

EEOC employee Susie Foshee speaks.

"It was like a whirlwind; everybody was busy."

EEOC employee John Rayburn speaks.

"Consumed people. They were consumed because they were here; they were here to do something. It was a good feeling; a very, very important feeling."

It was no easy task. Equal employment opportunity was the law; still there was resistance. About 150 investigators from Federal, State and Local agencies, who were detailed to the Commission, were often seen as instigators when they came into Southern towns.

EEOC employee John Rayburn speaks.

"It was not like walking around D.C., when you were in Bogalusa or Lake Charles, Louisiana, or Mobile, or Jackson, Mississippi or up in the Delta or in portions of Memphis, you walked a little more carefully."

EEOC employee Susie Foshee speaks.

"We were not afraid, but we certainly were careful."

With no field structure at the time, thousands of cases wound up on the desks of Commissioners, who made all of the decisions. But there was no sense of turning back. With no power to go into court, conciliation was the only enforcement tool the agency had. The Commission would have to have the power to take legal action against discriminatory employers. Congressional debate on that issue continued since the very beginning of the Commission. By 1972, an amended Title VII expanded the power of the agency to go into court. By 1978, the agency's jurisdiction was expanded even further, to cover claims brought on the Equal Pay Act and discrimination charges brought on age and handicap.