Most U.S. citizens support the elimination of race and gender prejudice and inequality, yet attitudes toward solutions have fluctuated in the years since the civil rights movement began. California, a state that has set precedent for antidiscrimination initiatives since 1934, is now at the center of struggles over affirmative action. The authors of the essays in this collection come together with the belief that grounded information on affirmative action programs and their specific outcomes are essential to civil rights groups, policymakers, labor advocates, administrators, journalists, and others formulating interventions into this highly emotional and rhetorical debate. Essays explore programs and outcomes in such sites as higher education, federal and state contracting, public employment, and minority- and women-owned businesses. The cumulative analysis is then used to assess the current and future impacts of Proposition 209 and other legislation that eliminates affirmative action programs. Essays in the collection are: (1) "An Overview of Affirmative Action" (P. Ong); (2) "U.S. and California Affirmative Action Policies, Laws, and Programs" (W. Thomas and M. Garrett); (3) "Race and Gender in California's Labor Market" (P. Ong); (4) "The Impact of Affirmative Action on Public-Sector Employment in California, 1970-1990" (M. V. L. Badgett); (5) "Federal-Contractor Status and Minority Employment: A Case Study of California, 1979-1994" (W. M. Rodgers III); (6) "The California Civil Rights Initiative: Which Firms Stand To Lose and How Much?" (D. L. Williams); (7)"Affirmative Action Programs for Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses" (T. Larson); (8) "Affirmative Action and Admission to the University of California" (C. A. Conrad); and (9) "Proposition 209 and Its Implications" (P. Ong). (BT)