Affirmative Action - 1970 to 1990
| Federal Laws | State Laws |
| 1971 | Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education |
| Griggs v. Duke Power Co. | |
| Executive Order 11625 - Providing Definition of Minority Business and Apparatus for Collection of Data regarding such firms | |
| 1972 | Equal Opportunity Act |
| 1974 | Equal Educational Opportunities Act |
| Housing and Community Development Act | |
| 1975 | Voting Rights Act |
| 1976 | Home Mortgage Disclosure Act |
| Equal Credit Opportunity Act | |
| Runyon v. McCrary | |
| 1977 | Community Reinvestment Act |
| Public Works Employment Act - 10% of federally funded public works contracts set aside for minority business | |
| 1978 | Regents of the University of California v. Bakke |
| 1980 | United Steelworkers of America v. Webber |
| Fullilove v. Kluznick | |
| 1982 | Supreme Court let stand interdistrict transportation of students |
| Voting Rights Act extended | |
| Supreme Court reversed lower court award of $1.2 million to white merchants in Port Gibson, Mississippi in case against NAACP | |
| 1983 | Holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. established |
| 1984 | Firefights Local Union No. 1784 Memphis Tennessee v. Stotts |
| 1986 | International Association of Firefights v. City of Cleveland |
| New York City v. Sheet Metal Workers Union | |
| 1987 | United States v. Paradise |
| Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara, California | |
| 1988 | Patterson v. McClean Credit Union |
| 1989 | Richmond v. Croson Co |
| Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins | |
| Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio | |
| Martin v. Wilks | |
| 1990 | Metro Broadcasting v. FCC |
