Color Them Black

After the Boston fire department rejected them because of poor exam scores in 1975, identical twins Philip and Paul Malone did not think of giving up. Back they went in 1977 with new applications and a new strategy: they declared that they were black. As such, the Malones were hired by the department, which was under pressure to take on more minority firemen. Under a court-ordered affirmative action plan, it no longer mattered that the brothers, with exam scores of 57% and 69%, fell far short of the passing grade of 82% required for whites.

For ten years no one officially...