Discrimination has a long history around the world. Most societies, especially the largest ones, have practiced some form and degree of discrimination. In fact, a notable trend (although by no means necessarily an always true law) is that larger societies have had a greater propensity to discriminate. Why? For your achievements. The largest societies, to reach the size they were, had to comply. They built extensive and complicated networks. Their engineering was on a scale and level sufficient to support a large society. His art was complex. They had a formal language and writing system. All of these things were, and are, marvelous achievements. But couple them with the fact that for most of human history, people lived only within their societies and had almost no contact with people from different societies, and it becomes easy to see why discrimination occurred. They saw others as foreigners and “backward”, not having achieved as much as they did.
From a list of all the societies that ever existed, it is easy to select societies that discriminated. Spain used to strongly discriminate against Jews, who were forced to convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. The Spanish also created an agency, called the Inquisition, to persecute those who were not like them. So, people were persecuted for being Jewish. If someone was thought to be a witch, he too was persecuted. Homosexuals were probably also persecuted.
In South Africa, Australia and the United States, black and indigenous populations have faced strong persecution. Jim Crow laws in the United States, intentionally imitated by South Africa and Australia, persecuted blacks. Segregation prevailed in these three countries. Blacks were illegally prevented from voting. Violence against blacks was common. In the United States, the Native American population faced strong discrimination. Their families were separated, children were forced to go to schools that would eradicate their culture, and families were forced to abandon their original ways of life and live on reservations.
Fortunately, the world as a whole is less tolerant of discrimination today than it was in the past. Most nations have laws that prohibit most, if not all, forms of discrimination (however, discrimination based on sexual orientation is an exception and you still face a lot of discrimination around the world).
A specific prohibition of discrimination in the US involves employment practices. The law prevents employers from discriminating against employees or prospective employees (during interviews). If you believe you have been the victim of any type of workplace discrimination, contact the Orange County Employment Discrimination Lawyers of Perry Smith by visiting their website or by calling 888-356-2529.