The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most comprehensive civil rights legislation yet passed, helping to initiate widespread changes in the racial patterns of American society.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 developed under forceful presidential leadership and bipartisan congressional support in an effort to avoid continued bloodshed and upheaval in the United States. The passage of the first effective civil rights law since Reconstruction was spurred by events of the Birmingham confrontation, where the police turned high-pressure fire hoses and snarling dogs on demonstrators, and by ugly episodes elsewhere. President John F. Kennedy sent Congress a broad civil rights bill in June 1963 that clearly represented a new and more comprehensive approach to the issue of civil rights designed to avoid the limited nature and ineffective results of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
President Lyndon B. Johnson committed himself to the passage of the civil rights bill in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination. A cloture petition to terminate debate on the 1964 act was circulated in the Senate in an attempt to defeat southern resistance. A similar tactic had failed to garner the necessary two-thirds vote in 1960, but the cloture petition succeeded with votes to spare in 1964 because the uncompromising posture of southern hardliners alienated many senators who had been undecided about the 1964 act and because Johnson used his considerable persuasive skills to rally support. Senator Everett M. Dirksen, the Republican Senate minority leader, also played an important role in the approval of cloture and passage of the 1964 act.
Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2, 1964, describing it as promoting “a more abiding commitment to freedom, a more constant pursuit of justice, and a deeper respect for human dignity.” The Johnson administration acted with considerable speed to enforce the provisions of the act. The president, Congress, and the courts worked in concert to promote civil rights following the passage of the measure.
The sweeping scope of the 1964 act covered a number of issues. Titles I and VIII addressed voting rights. Title I prohibited the denial of the right to vote in national elections on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. It also limited the use of literacy tests to determine voter eligibility. Title VIII directed the Bureau of the Census to gather statistics from elections for the House of Representatives since 1960 concerning race, color, and national origin in districts selected by the Commission on Civil Rights.
Title II provided injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations. One of the 1964 act’s boldest provisions, Title II faced opposition from southerners
Cartoon showing an African-American family watching fireworks. The fireworks represent the Civil Rights Bill.
(Library of Congress)
Title VI, prohibiting discrimination in federally assisted programs, drew bipartisan support and attracted little attention during debates over the 1964 act. It became, however, a very powerful weapon for the executive branch with its permission to terminate federal funding to programs in violation of the new act. This title continues to affect educational institutions that receive federal funding today.
Title VII, another very important provision of the measure, established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The title prohibited discrimination by companies with 25 or more employees on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, and national origin. Opponents of the bill had inserted the clause on gender in hopes of derailing the bill; the tactic failed but led to revolutionary changes in the legal status of female workers.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 represented a watershed in civil rights legislation. It destroyed many southern defenses and cleared the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It also ended the paralysis of school desegregation that had followed the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision. Although discrimination was not eliminated by the act, it helped to alter attitudes among the public and at the workplace.
Further reading: Hugh Davis Graham, The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 19601972 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).
—Allan Wesley Austin
Civil Rights movement See African Americans.
Who based their arguments on the rhetoric of states’ rights, mythic memories of Reconstruction, and fears of federal tyranny betraying the ideals of the founding fathers. They pleaded instead for gradualism and voluntarism, but their pleas failed to rally support in light of television coverage of events in Birmingham and elsewhere.
Titles III and IV permitted the Department of Justice to file suit to desegregate public facilities and public education. Such suits could be brought only upon receipt of a written complaint from an individual too poor or too threatened to undertake such a suit. The measure also empowered various agencies to work on civil rights issues. Title V extended the life of the Commission on Civil Rights through 1969 and authorized it to serve as a clearinghouse for civil rights information and to investigate alleged vote frauds. Title X established a Community Relations Service within the Department of Commerce to help states and communities resolve disputes based in allegedly discriminatory practices.
World History
