jul 1, 1964 - Cicil Rights Act passed by COngress

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Civil RIghts Act of 1964:Law that responded to demands of the civil rights movement by making discrimination illegal in employment, education, and public accommodations on the basis of race, religion, national origin, and sex.


Although the March on Washington galvanized public opinion, it changed few congressional votes. Southern senators continued to block Kennedy’s legislation. Georgia senator Richard Russell, a leader of the opposition, announced he would filibuster against any bill that would “bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races.” As 1963 continued, tragic violence began to mount. In September, white supremacists bombed a Baptist church in Birmingham, killing four black girls in Sunday school. Less than two months later, President Kennedy himself was dead, the victim of assassination (see “John F. Kennedy’s Promise” in Chapter 27).

On assuming the presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson made the passage of the civil rights bill a priority. A southerner and former Senate majority leader, “LBJ” was renowned for his fierce style of persuasion and tough political bargaining. By appealing to the white South’s conscience, invoking the memory of the slain JFK, and playing political hardball, Johnson overcame the filibuster. He acted on both principled and personal motivations, believing that civil rights had become a generational moral imperative and that if he shepherded the bill through Congress his achievement would rank alongside those of his political idol, Franklin D. Roosevelt. In June 1964, Congress approved the most far-reaching civil rights law since Reconstruction. The keystone of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, outlawed discrimination in employment on the basis of race, religion, national origin, and sex. Another section guaranteed equal access to public accommodations and schools. The law granted new enforcement powers to the U.S. attorney general and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to implement the prohibition against job discrimination.

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