In the United States, African Americans have historically been disadvantaged because of slavery
and racial segregation. Is affirmative action in college admissions an acceptable form of
compensation for historical disadvantage? Relying on the cases excerpted in Sandel, as well as
the dialogue between Ronald Dworkin and Richard Bernstein, and considering Rawls and others
on the subject of merit and distributive justice, write an essay examining the problem of
affirmative action.