The decades between 1970 and 2010 bracket a critically important period in the history of race and gender relations in the United States. Landmark court decisions and innovative legislation were starting to dismantle the most oppressive features of the American racial hierarchy in the years just prior to 1970. At the same time, women entered the paid labor force in record numbers. Gender discrimination became a recognized problem and outlawed by federal legislation. The social upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s precipitated an equally powerful backlash against these changes that culminated with the election of Ronald Reagan and a socially and fiscally conservative congress. The so-called "Reagan revolution" was marked by a serious effort to turn back earlier reforms and especially diminish the role of government in protecting minority rights. Forty years later, an African-American man and a White woman were leading contenders as the presidential candidate of the Democratic party, followed by an unsuccessful bid by a White man and a White woman to become the president and vice-president of the United States. The 2008 presidential campaign underscored the question of which was a greater disadvantage, race or gender and while the contest seemed to be settled in favor of gender other disturbing developments such as the mass incarceration of African-American men in the 1980s and 1990s re-opened debates about civil rights in America.