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Civil Rights Act of 1964

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President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among the guests behind him is Martin Luther King, Jr.
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President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among the guests behind him is Martin Luther King, Jr.

Civil Rights Act of 1964
Long title: To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and for other purposes.
Introduced by: Michael J. Mansfield
Date final form passed: June 19, 1964 (Senate)
July 2, 1964 (House)
Date signed into law: July 2, 1964
Amendments:
Related legislation: Civil Rights Act of 1968
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241 (July 2, 1964) was landmark legislation in the United States which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Originally conceived to protect the rights of black men, the bill was amended prior to passage to protect the civil rights of everyone, and explicitly included women for the first time. 

The Act transformed American society.  It prohibited discrimination in public facilities, in government, and in employment.  The "Jim Crow" laws in the South were abolished, and it became illegal to compel segregation of the 'races' in schools, housing, or hiring. Enforcement powers were initially weak, but they grew over the years, and later programs (such as affirmative action) were made possible by the Act. 





Contents




Legislative history


The bill was promised by President John F. Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11 1963,[Transcript from the JFK library.] in which he asked for legislation that would provide "the kind of equality of treatment which we would want for ourselves."  He then sent the bill to Congress on June 19, when it was introduced in Congress by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield.  Kennedy was unable to advance the bill, but after his death, the President Lyndon Johnson decided to use his power in Congress to pass it. Despite an 83 day filibuster in the Senate led by conservatives and segregationists, both parties in Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Act, and President Johnson signed the bill into law on July 2, 1964.



Vote statistics


Vote totals

Totals are in "Yea-Nay" format:


By Party

The Original House Version:





The Senate Version, voted on by the House:




Switches in position: 


"Yea" to "Nay": Earl Wilson (R-IN), Bob Wilson (R-CA), and Charlotte T. Reid (R-IL)


"Nay" to "Yea": John Jacob Rhodes (R-AZ), J. Edward Hutchinson (R-MI), and Charles Weltner (D-GA).



By Party and Region


The Original House Version:





The Senate Version:





Women's rights

Howard W. Smith, the powerful Virginian who chaired the House Rules Committee, opposed civil rights laws for blacks, but he supported them for women.  Smith had long been close to Alice Paul, one of the leaders of the suffrage movement since 1917. At her urging he included gender as a protected category.  He forged an alliance with Congresswoman Martha Griffiths, a liberal feminist from Michigan, to include gender as a protected category in the Civil Rights Law of 1964. Griffith and Smith defeated the liberals of the AFL-CIO who had long opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as the black leaders who wanted the bill to focus on race.


William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, articulated in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson: “The prohibition against discrimination based on sex was added to Title VII at the last minute on the floor of the House of Representatives…the bill quickly passed as amended, and we are left with little legislative history to guide us in interpreting the Act’s prohibition against discrimination based on ‘sex.’”  




Political Repercussions

The bill divided and engendered a long-term change in the demographics of both political parties. President Johnson realized that supporting this bill would mean losing the South's overwhelming support of the Democratic Party. Legend has it that he remarked after signing the Act, "We have lost the South for a generation." [link] Although majorities in both parties voted for the bill, there were notable exceptions. Republican senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona voted against the bill, remarking, "You can't legislate morality." Most Democrats from the Southern states opposed the bill, including Tennessee senator Albert Gore Sr., Arkansas senator J. William Fulbright, and West Virginia senator Robert Byrd. Goldwater went on to secure his party's nomination for the presidency, and in the ensuing election, Goldwater won only his home state of Arizona and five of the Deep South states, four of which had not voted Republican since the disputed presidential election of 1876. Johnson's signing of the Act marked the end of the Solid South and the beginning of the Republican Party's ascendence in that region.



Major Features of the Civil Rights Act of 1964


(The full text of the Act is available online.)[Full text of act.]



Title I

Barred unequal application of voter registration requirements, but did not abolish literacy tests sometimes used to disqualify African Americans and poor white voters.


"It shall be the duty of the judge designated pursuant to this section to assign the case for hearing at the earliest practicable date and to cause the case to be in every way expedited."



Title II

Outlawed discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; exempted private clubs without defining the term "private."



Title III

Encouraged the desegregation of public schools and authorized the U. S. Attorney General to file suits to force desegregation.



Title VII

Title VII of the Act, codified as Subchapter VI of Chapter 21 of Title 42 of the United States Code, #redirect  et seq., outlaws discrimination in employment in any business on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin (see #redirect ). Title VII also prohibits retaliation against employees who oppose such unlawful discrimination.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces Title VII (see #redirect ). The EEOC investigates, mediates, and sometimes files lawsuits on behalf of employees.  Title VII also provides that an individual can bring a private lawsuit.  An individual must file a complaint of discrimination with the EEOC within 180 days of learning of the discrimination or the individual may lose the right to file a lawsuit.  Title VII only applies to employers who employ 15 or more employees for more than 19 weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.


In the late 1970s courts began holding that sexual harassment is also prohibited under the Act.  Chrapliwy v. Uniroyal is a notable Title VII case relating to sexual harassment that was decided in favor of the plaintiffs.  In 1986 the Supreme Court held in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 (1986), that sexual harassment is sex discrimination and is prohibited by Title VII.  Title VII has been supplemented with legislation prohibiting pregnancy, age, and disability discrimination (See Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990).


Title VII does not apply to three types of employers:



References



Footnotes



















 





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