The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship and equal protection under the law to all people born or naturalized in the United States. In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson’s ruling challenged the 14th Amendment by creating a “separate but equal” America, limiting job opportunities for minorities and establishing social discrimination. Minority groups were subjected to lesser pay, unhealthy working conditions, and beatings and lynchings in the workplace. To combat their unfair treatment, they retaliated in hopes of regaining the freedom promised by the 14th Amendment.
The 1950s started the Civil Rights Movement, where minority groups assembled sit-ins, marches, boycotts and protests to fight for their rights. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, allowing for the integration of schools — a pivotal moment that catalyzed workplace reform. Ten years later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, also known as the Equal Opportunity Legislation. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employment discrimination based on race, religion, sex and national origin is prohibited. The act prevents managers from basing job termination, promotion and hiring on these characteristics. However, in 2025, there are still instances of prejudiced behavior in the workplace.
“Prejudice in the workplace is when people have bias or stereotypes about others, which can lead to discrimination,” Aboubacar Amadou Ide, statistics teacher, said. “Prejudice can be based on characteristics like race, gender, religion and disabilities.”
Prejudiced comments can cause individuals to feel uncomfortable, insecure or unworthy of their job title. Biology teacher Joseph Harris first experienced workplace discrimination when he taught at a predominantly white high school with teachers who would exclude him from social gatherings. Even though Harris grew up attending predominantly white schools, he had never experienced prejudice before. Despite their discriminatory treatment, Harris did not realize his colleagues had a problem with him. As he continued teaching at his school, more people formed stereotypes about him, including that African American men could not be educated. These remarks started to negatively affect him, causing him to lash out at his family members and disrupt his sleep patterns. During the virtual school year, his colleagues began reporting him to the principal, curating lies about his character after he consistently won Teacher of the Month. His principal joined in on the behavior, reporting Harris to HR while knowing that the reports against Harris were false. Harris soon began to feel inferior and unsure of himself; his colleagues’ behavior caused him to leave the school after the virtual school year. After realizing the prejudice he faced, his co-workers’ negative comments and actions inspired him to further his education. Harris earned his doctorate in 2022 with his thesis focused on the underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos in STEM fields.
“Prejudice makes me want to work harder because your haters are your motivators,” Harris said. “If everyone likes me then that means that I am not being authentic. Even though people say not to judge a book by its cover, people will always look at someone’s race first. Teachers have cliques, and some students would say that ‘I look a certain way, and we don’t talk to people of your race.’”
After facing countless discriminatory comments, Harris left his old school to work at a more diverse school: White Station High School (WSHS). Harris has taught biology at WSHS for the past four years, making up roughly 33 percent of the school’s Black science teacher population. In a survey done by the Pew Research Center, researchers reported that Black individuals in STEM fields face more discrimination than Black people in non-STEM fields. In STEM fields such as biology and medicine, there is a huge disparity between the amount of Black individuals in comparison to their non-Black counterparts. This divide subjects more Black individuals to feelings of exclusion and fear, as many are too afraid to speak out about their discrimination. Still, even when employees do speak up, their concerns are not always taken seriously because many people believe workplace discrimination does not exist anymore.
“If someone’s remarks are messing with your head and mind, try to talk to them respectfully,” Harris said. “If that does not work, then leave, because some people are stuck in their own ways. Everyone is not going to like you, so there is no purpose in trying to please everyone. Negative people will always be negative. Do not let them see you react; never let them see you sweat. Violence is not the answer, so don’t scream or go off; it’s not worth it. Once you say something, you can’t take it back — words do hurt.”
Besides racial prejudice, xenophobia is a leading cause of workplace discrimination. Xenophobia is the prejudice or fear against someone from a different country. Immigrants often come to the U.S. looking for better jobs or living conditions than their home country offers. However, they are prone to discrimination because of language barriers, new customs and cultural differences. Their language and cultural differences produce more room for uneducated people to form negative stereotypes about the person based on their country of origin. Ide faced xenophobic comments from a student on Nov. 9, 2016, after Trump won his first presidential election. The student joked with the class, stating how “she will miss [Ide]” after Trump deports him. Ide has been an American citizen for over 20 years. Even though many people believe these statements are jokes, to immigrants who gave up their past lifestyle to come to America, these jokes are detrimental to their livelihood.
“People can look at you [and say] ‘You don’t look like us; you are someone else,’” Ide said. “There is one word in the dictionary called ignorance, and that is one of the worst things. If someone is ignorant, they can harm [others].”
According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, to become an American citizen, an individual must be at least 18 years old and have been a permanent resident for at least five years or married to a U.S. citizen for three. If they meet these standards, then they are eligible to apply and pay for the U.S. civics test, consisting of 100 written and 10 verbal questions about the U.S. government and history. U.S. citizenship takes months of preparation, with immigrants learning more about the U.S. than most Americans with birthright citizenship. Therefore, the discrimination they face often belittles the efforts they made to understand customs different from their origin.
“[Those of] us born overseas came here and became citizens,” Ide said. “We are more aware — more knowledgeable — of this country’s laws and the Constitution. For me, I go as far as to say I am more American than those born in this country because of what I gave up to become American; most of the 240 million [American citizens] did not stand and swear under oath. They just are American because they were born here, but some of us had to go through a lot to get here.”
Many immigrants come to America with limited English proficiency or an accent when they speak. Ide has experienced colleagues and students who undermined his intelligence, creating preconceived notions that he could not do his job correctly because of his accent. Immigrants with stronger accents are taken less seriously by their employers, who tell them they are too hard to understand. Most immigrants speak two or more languages, with English not being their first or second language, so they are more prone to having a thicker accent when speaking. Their accent is not because they lack English comprehension but because their native language pronounces vowels and consonants differently from the English phonetic system. The constant comments and remarks about their accent can cause the individual to develop a sense of double consciousness: stuck between who society wants them to be and what values and customs they were born into.
“Since last year, I started telling people that, ‘You don’t know who I am; you don’t know where I’m coming from,’” Ide said. “It’s not arrogance: I had to do that so that people know I came a long way to get here. Everyone has an accent, but unfortunately, in America, people don’t know this. I have an accent in America to American people, and when I was in Niger, I had an accent to Nigerian people, and they have one to me. We all have an accent depending on who we are talking to. Not speaking English correctly or having an accent does not mean that the person is unintelligent.”
While workplace discrimination is prohibited by law, people still find loopholes. Prejudice in the workplace can cause employees to diminish their values and beliefs, making it harder for them to continue their jobs. A person’s skin color or nationality does not define their potential. Workplace discrimination never ended. It is only now that people feel more comfortable sharing their stories.
“When we come from different environments, you have to know where you’re going and never forget where you came from,” Ide said. “That’s one of the good things about me; I never forget where I come from. If you are an adult, you have to be determined enough to say challenges will be there and keep going. We should be willing to accept certain things but not to allow our values to go down; we should stay strong with our values. Always remember your morals and make sure they are respected.”
