EPILOGUE - WHAT TO A BLACK PERSON IS AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION

In the Declaration of Independence, life, liberty and the pursuit of h appiness are articulated as rights to which all ''men'' are entitled. These rights are placed within the context of equality. It is proposed in this article that the Declaration of Independence provides the mat erial for Douglass's, Lincoln's, and King's reinterpretation and reite ration of the rights and principles of democracy and equality Affirmat ive action is presented as a contemporary example of a rewrite or rein terpretation of the Declaration of Independence. Specifically, it is p roposed that affirmative action is the means by which equity, rather t han equality, can be realized.