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The Sixties in America Civil Rights Act of 1964 Landmark federal legislation that ended the practice of racial segregation in public facilities. The act also included a ban on gender discrimination, a provision that provided women with a legal foundation in their struggle for equal rights. The 1896 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson affirmed the constitutionality of "separate but equal" racial segregation. The Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas prohibited segregation in public schools, but in the early 1960's, segregation still remained the law and the custom in most southern states. Civil rights activists hoped for federal legislation to end segregation, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower proved unwilling and President John F. Kennedy was reluctant to battle a Congress dominated by powerful southern senators. Introducing the Bill Seeking to force the federal government to act, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other prominent leaders in the Civil Rights movement provoked a confrontation with law enforcement officials in Birmingham, Alabama, in April and May, 1963. News broadcasts featuring police and mob violence against civil rights protesters shocked the nation and led to international condemnation of American racism. Shocked by the violence and concerned with the United States' prestige abroad, President Kennedy announced on national television on June 11, 1963, that he would introduce a civil rights bill to Congress. Kennedy's bill, which he sent to Congress on June 18, included provisions banning racial discrimination in public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, parks, and swimming pools. Southern Democrats and conservative Republicans immediately made clear their opposition to the civil rights legislation. King hoped that the August, 1963, March on Washington would pressure Congress into working on the bill, but the protest had no effect on congressional opinion, and the bill continued its slow progress through various committees in the House of Representatives. However, Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, led to renewed activity as the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, made passage of the legislation a top priority. Passing the Bill Johnson, a former Senate majority leader, possessed considerable skills as a legislator. Committed to the civil rights cause and dedicated to securing the enactment of a strong civil rights bill, Johnson began building congressional and popular support for the legislation. He shrewdly played on the nation's sense of loss, declaring before a joint session of Congress that "no memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy's memory than the earliest passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long." He later met with several civil rights leaders to coordinate efforts to obtain passage of the stalled legislation. Opponents vigorously fought the bill in the House of Representatives, even adding a provision barring sex discrimination in the hope that it would increase opposition. Despite these efforts, the House approved the measure by a vote of 290 to 130 on February 10, 1964. However, the bill's passage was not assured. Senate passage of the act would prove far more difficult. Using a technique called the filibuster, senators could bring the business of the Senate to a halt. A senator who opposed any bill could take the floor and make extended speeches, thus preventing the Senate from debating the bill. The Senate could end a filibuster by voting to invoke cloture, a rule that limited the length of time that a senator could speak. In order to stop a southern filibuster, the bill's proponents needed two-thirds of the Senate to vote for cloture. However, many senators cherished the tradition of unlimited debate and were reluctant to vote for cloture, and southerners opposed to the bill filibustered through the months of March, April, and May, preventing the Senate from considering the civil rights legislation. However, the bill's proponents secured the assistance of Everett Dirksen, leader of the Republicans in the Senate. After long negotiations with the White House, Dirksen and other Republicans agreed to vote for cloture, and on June 10, the filibuster, which had lasted for 534 hours and consisted of more than four million words, came to an end. Nine days later, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 73 to 27. On July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law in a public ceremony attended by civil rights leaders and congressmen who had supported the bill. Impact The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended legal segregation. Throughout the southern United States, signs that banned African Americans from entering public facilities or required the use of separate water fountains and bathrooms were removed. The act also provided the framework for the passage of voting rights legislation in 1965. Passage of the bill also marked the decline of the Democratic Party in the South, as conservative southerners switched to the Republican Party. Subsequent Events Provisions requiring equal employment opportunities caused controversy during the 1970's and 1980's. Proponents argued that the 1964 act demanded affirmative action, while critics argued that this interpretation went beyond the boundaries defined in the act. During the 1960's, the federal government was slow to enforce the section in the law that banned gender discrimination. However, during the 1970's, amendments to that section provided feminists with powerful legal tools to combat discrimination against women. Additional Information Charles and Barbara Whalen detail the legislative battles surrounding passage of the act in The Longest Debate: A Legislative History of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (1985), as does Robert D. Loevy in his To End All Segregation: The Politics of the Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (1990). Loevy also edited The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Passage of the Law That Ended Racial Segregation (1997). Hugh Davis Graham provides an overview of federal civil rights activities in The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960-1972 (1990). Denton L. Watson profiles an important behind-the-scenes lobbyist in Lion in the Lobby: Clarence Mitchell, Jr.'s Struggle for the Passage of Civil Rights Legislation (1990). Thomas Clarkin See AlsoBirmingham March; Civil Rights Act of 1968; Civil Rights Movement; Dirksen, Everett; King, Martin Luther, Jr.; March on Washington; Voting Rights Legislation. |
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