Economic Discrimination - History

History

The term economic discrimination has been in usage for over 150 years, but its meaning has changed significantly since it was coined. The term was first used in British law, specifically the British Railway Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845, which prohibited a common carrier from charging one person more for carrying freight than was charged to another customer for the same service. In 19th century English and American common law, discrimination was meant to indicate improper distinctions in economic transactions. For example, discrimination occurred if a hotelier refused to give rooms to a patron, or the distinction indicated by the British Railway Clauses. Most 19th century economic discrimination was by Protestants against Catholics, or by Christians against Jews, and usually could be referred to as economic discrimination against consumers.

By the early 20th century, discrimination also included biased or unequal terms against other companies or competing companies. The Robinson-Patman Act (1936), which prevents sellers of commodities in interstate commerce from discriminating in price between purchasers of goods of like grade and quality, was designed to prevent vertically integrated trusts from driving smaller competitors out of the market through economies of scale.

It was not until 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order forbidding discrimination in employment by a company working under a government defense contract, that economic discrimination took on the overtones it has today, which is discrimination against minorities. By 1960 anti-trust laws and interstate commerce laws had effectively regulated inter-corporate discrimination so problematic in the late 19th century and early 20th century, but the problem of discrimination on an economic basis against minorities had become widespread.