We didn't have a Department of Education before 1980, but we had the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The agency was split into the Department of Education and the Department ofo Health and Human Services; HHS.

Affirmative Action was definitely not a mini-reparations for Blacks. It gave more advantage to white women, who were included in its provisions. (I'm old; I know the genesis of many government programs and orders.)