4 sett 1875 anni - Civil Rights Act, 1875

Descrizione:

On this date, the House passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 by a vote of 162 to 99. First introduced by one of Congress’s greatest advocates for black civil rights, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, in 1870, the original bill outlawed racial discrimination in juries, schools, transportation, and public accommodations. Republican leaders were forced, however, to chip away at the legislation’s protections in order to make it palatable enough to pass in the face of growing public pressure to abandon racial legislation and embrace segregation. A record-number seven African-American Representatives carried debate in favor of the bill, offering personal accounts of discrimination on railroads and in restaurants.