Black History Month & Civil Rights Legislation

Civil rights legislation was a major step forward for this country, and really affected nearly every aspect of our society.  From education to business to public establishments, discrimination was finally banned, although it was just the beginning of creating a society of equality. Thank you again for reading our articles dedicated to Black History Month.

On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy set the stage for the passage of civil rights legislation that made meaningful change when he stated in a speech he was seeking…"the kind of equality of treatment which we would want for ourselves.”  And despite his tragic assignation, that leadership set the wheels in motion for one of the most important pieces of legislation that the United States government has ever passed to protect the civil rights of African Americans.  That legislation was the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This bill represented the culmination of a decades if not century’s long struggle to achieve true civil rights for African Americans in the USA.  President Kennedy saw this as the chance to put some real teeth into the law to give it the power to really change the way the country worked, played and lived together.  It was a powerful continuation of the work that was started with The Civil Rights Act of 1875 but with much more enforceability combined with language that made it contemporary in an era of the expanding civil rights movement.

The bill was broad sweeping the scope of areas of civil life in this country to be impacted by restrictions against discrimination.  The five “titles” of the bill cover may needed social changes including...

Title I – Banned discriminatory voter registration practices that were used to try to deny black people the right to vote.
Title II - Made it illegal to discriminate in public venues such as restaurants, theaters or hotels based on race.
Title III – Banned discrimination from public facilities such as government services or schools.
Title IV – Enforcement of desegregation of public schools
Title V – Made it illegal to discriminate in the workplace including race based hiring practices.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 touched on virtually every aspect of public life in America from schools to the work place even to public gatherings such as entertainment and eating establishments.  In every way that Americans gathered together as a people, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination against African Americans in that setting.