The protests of 1960 to 1963 pushed civil rights to the top of the national agenda. President Kennedy proposed a civil rights bill in June 1963. After his assassination, Lyndon Johnson made its passage his first priority.
Key idea
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination in public places and jobs; the Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) banned poll taxes in federal elections; after the Selma marches, the Voting Rights Act (1965) ended literacy tests and brought federal oversight; the Fair Housing Act followed in 1968.
| Law | Signed | Main provisions |
|---|---|---|
| Civil Rights Act | July 2, 1964 | Title II: no discrimination in hotels, restaurants and other public accommodations; Title VI: no discrimination in programs with federal money; Title VII: no job discrimination by race, color, religion, sex or national origin |
| Twenty-fourth Amendment | Ratified January 23, 1964 | No poll tax in federal elections (Harper v. Virginia, 1966, ended state poll taxes) |
| Voting Rights Act | August 6, 1965 | Suspended literacy tests; federal examiners could register voters; covered states needed federal approval ("preclearance") to change voting rules |
| Fair Housing Act (Civil Rights Act of 1968) | April 11, 1968 | No discrimination in the sale or rental of housing |
Why it works
Passing the 1964 act took a long fight. Southern senators filibustered for 60 working days until a bipartisan coalition, with key support from Republican leader Everett Dirksen, voted cloture to end debate. Voting came next. In 1964, during Freedom Summer, volunteers registered voters in Mississippi, where only about 6.7 percent of eligible Black citizens were registered; three civil rights workers were murdered. On March 7, 1965, state troopers beat marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama ("Bloody Sunday"). Johnson went before Congress, and the Voting Rights Act passed that summer. Black registration in the South rose sharply within a few years.
Work it through
Worked example: Which law applies?
A restaurant in 1965 refuses to serve Black customers; a county keeps a literacy test for voters. Which law covers each?
- Restaurants are public accommodations: Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- Literacy tests for voting: the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- The Supreme Court upheld Title II under the Commerce Clause (Heart of Atlanta Motel, 1964).
Answer: The restaurant: the 1964 act. The literacy test: the 1965 act.
Common mistake
Students mix up the 1964 and 1965 laws. The Civil Rights Act (1964) covered public places and jobs; the Voting Rights Act (1965) covered voting. Memory aid: public places and jobs came first (1964), the ballot box a year later (1965). A later fact: in Shelby County v. Holder (2013) the Supreme Court struck down the formula that chose which states needed preclearance.