Civil Rights History in America

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed one of the most significant pieces of legislation in American history. The Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. 

A Promise Long Overdue

The road to the Civil Rights Act was paved with decades of organized resistance and sacrifice. The decades between the post-Civil War amendments and the passage of the Civil Rights Act were filled with segregation, oppression, violence, and gross inequality. With the enactment of Jim Crow laws and the 1896 Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, two very different Americas emerged, with virtually every element of society separated by race, from movie theaters to schools to drinking fountains.

Kennedy's Call to Action

President John F. Kennedy proposed a Civil Rights Act in a nationally televised address, then submitted a bill to Congress addressing civil rights. He met with businessmen, religious leaders, labor officials, and civil rights organizations while maneuvering behind the scenes to build bipartisan support. But Kennedy would not live to see it become law. After Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed the bill forward. 

The Fight in Congress

Passing the legislation was not simple. Opponents launched the longest filibuster in American history, which lasted 57 days and brought the Senate to a virtual standstill. Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen gained key votes for cloture from his party colleagues with a powerful speech calling racial integration "an idea whose time has come." On June 10, a coalition of 27 Republicans and 44 Democrats ended the filibuster when the Senate voted 71 to 29 for cloture, marking the first time in Senate history that debate on a civil rights bill had been brought to a close.

A Historic Signing

When President Johnson signed the bill into law in a nationally televised broadcast, he was joined by civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., who had been instrumental in leading the public mobilization efforts in favor of civil rights legislation. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act with at least 75 pens, which he handed out to congressional supporters and civil rights leaders including Hubert Humphrey, Everett Dirksen, Martin Luther King Jr., and Roy Wilkins. 

A Legacy That Reshaped America

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 hastened the end of legal Jim Crow. It secured African Americans equal access to restaurants, transportation, and other public facilities, enabled Black people, women, and other minorities to break down barriers in the workplace, and made access to equal education a reality for many Southern and Northern African Americans. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 nothing less than a "second emancipation."

The act also opened the door to further legislation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited literacy tests and other discriminatory voting practices, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 banned discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of property. Though the struggle for equality continued, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 permanently altered the legal and moral landscape of the United States.