# Civil Rights Act of 1964

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Act of Congress in the United States| Title | Civil Rights Act of 1964  |
| Country | United States  |
| Dey apply to jurisdiction | United States  |
| Publication date | 2 July 1964  |
| Language of work or name | English  |
| Point for tym insyd | 2 July 1964  |
| Work available at URL |      |
| Legislated by | 88th United States Congress  |
| Signatory | Lyndon B. Johnson  |
| Legal citation of this text | Pub. L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241  |
| Legislative committee | United States House Committee on the Judiciary  |

De **Civil Rights Act of 1964** (Pub. L. 88–352, 78 Stat. 241, enacted July 2, 1964) be a landmark civil rights den labor law insyd de United States wey dey outlaw discrimination wey be based on race, color, religion, sex, den national origin. E dey prohibit unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation insyd schools den public accommodations, den employment discrimination. De act "remain one of de most significant legislative achievements insyd American history".

Initially, na powers wey be given make dem enforce de act be weak, buh na dese be supplemented during later years. Na congress assert ein authority make e legislate under chaw different parts of de United States Constitution, principally ein enumerated power make e regulate interstate commerce under de Commerce Clause of Article I, Section 8, ein duty make e guarantee all citizens equal protection of de laws under de 14th Amendment, den ein duty make e protect voting rights under de 15th Amendment.

Presido John F. Kennedy wey propose de legislation on June 1963, buh na e be opposed by filibuster insyd de Senate. After na dem assassinate Kennedy on November 22, 1963, Presido Lyndon B. Johnson push de bill forward. Na de United States House of Representatives pass de bill on February 10, 1964, den after a 72-day filibuster, e pass de United States Senate on June 19, 1964. Na de final vote be 290–130 insyd de House of Representatives den 73–27 insyd de Senate. After de House agree to a subsequent Senate amendment, na dem sign de Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law by Presido Johnson for de White House on July 2, 1964.

## Background

For 1883 wey dem do Civil Rights Cases, United States Supreme Court talk say Congress no fit stop discrimination for private sector, so e make Civil Rights Act of 1875 lose plenty power to protect civil rights.

For late 19th and early 20th century, di reason wey make dem fit cancel Civil Rights Act of 1875 be part of wetin dey happen as Supreme Court for USA dey chop plenty power wey fit do away with government rules for private matter, except when e reach laws wey dey protect di public morals.

For 1930s, during di New Deal, Supreme Court justices begin change dem mind small small, dey allow more government control for private matter under di Commerce Clause, so dem fit bring civil rights laws wey go stop both public and private sector discrimination based on di commerce clause.

E be say di "Black Cabinet" people and di March on Washington Movement get small hand for am, before USA enter World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt run Executive Order 8802, na di first federal anti-discrimination order wey him set up di Fair Employment Practices Committee. Roosevelt's successor, President Harry Truman, fit appoint President Committee for Civil Rights, propose di first big Civil Rights Act for 20th century, plus him issue Executive Order 9980 and Executive Order 9981, wey go ensure fair work and make everywhere dey equal for federal government and di army.

## Civil Rights Act of 1957

The Civil Rights Act wey dem sign for 1957 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower for September 9, 1957, na di first federal civil rights law since 1875 wey don pass. After Supreme Court talk say make dem no separate school by race for 1954 wey dem call Brown v. Board of Education, Southern Democrats start wetin dem dey call 'massive resistance' against desegregation, and even di small white leaders wey dey try balance, dem begin show di racist side well well. Eisenhower wan cool matter for people wey dey shout say make dem do more serious changes, so he propose civil rights bill to make sure say African Americans go get better protection for their voting rights.

Even tho e no so big for how African-American voters dey participate, back den black voter registration dey range from 0% (for 11 counties) to less than 5% (for 97 counties) even as e be majority-black counties.Di Civil Rights Act for 1957 set up di United States Commission wey go handle Civil Rights and di Justice Department Civil Rights Division. By 1960, black pipo wey dey vote increase small, just 3%.and Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which eliminated certain loopholes left by the 1957 Act.

## Activism

Global media dey do plenty wahala for both Kennedy and Johnson government, e help make dem pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Anytime dem show all the bad vibes for TV like the 1957 Little Rock wahala and the Brown vs Board of Education matter wey dey ban school segregation, plus the attack wey dem give for the 1963 Birmingham protest, e dey put big pressure on government to change plenty laws sharp-sharp.

## 1963 Kennedy civil rights bill

U.S. President John F. Kennedy addresses the nation on civil rights on June 11, 1963
When Kennedy win di 1960 United States presidential election, e take 70% of di African American vote. But e be say him win small-small, an di Democrats dey get small majority for Congress, so him dey ginger small waka for civil rights matter, fear say e go lose southern pple support. Plus, as Miller Center talk am, e wan wait make e second term before e go send Congress civil rights bill.But with tension dey rise plus plenty African-American protests for spring 1963, like Birmingham campaign, Kennedy sabi say e gatz take action for civil rights.

Kennedy dey first talk say make dem pass di 1964 bill for im Report wey e give American People on Civil Rights for June 11, 1963. E wan make law wey go give all Americans di right to chop and chill for any public place – hotels, restaurants, theaters, shops, and all those kind places – plus make dem protect di right to vote more well. For late July, Walter Reuther, wey be di president of di United Auto Workers, come warn say if Congress no fit pass Kennedy's civil rights bill, di country go see another civil war.

Like Civil Rights Act wey dem pass for 1875, but dem go chop am down for court in 1883, Kennedy civil rights bill get some plans wey fit stop wahala for public places and make U.S. Attorney General fit join case against state wey dey run segregated school system, plus other things. But e no get wetin civil rights leaders dey talk say important, like protection from police wahala, stop discrimination for private jobs, and make Justice Department fit start desegregation or job discrimination cases.

## Legislative history

##### House of Representatives

For June 11, 1963, President Kennedy gather with Republican leaders make dem talk about di law before e go address di nation for television dat evening. Two days later, Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield show dem support for di president bill, but dem no gree for di part wey go make sure everybody fit access public places. Dis one make some Republican Representatives come put together compromise bill wey go fit consider. On June 19, di president send im bill go Congress as e be, talk say dem need to take action fast.The president bill first go House of Representatives, dem refer am to Judiciary Committee wey New York Democrat Emanuel Celler dey run. After dem hear am well well, Celler committee make the act stronger, add some provisions to stop racial wahala for work, give better protection to black voters, cancel segregation for all public places (no be only schools), and make anti-segregation rules for public places like lunch counters stronger. Dem sef add make Attorney General fit file case we go protect people from anybody we go breach dem rights we Constitution or U.S. law give dem. Na dis be de wahala 'Title III' wey dem remove from 1957 Act and 1960 Act. Dem self add make Attorney General fit file case wey go protect people wey dem wan deny dem rights wey Constitution or U.S. law give dem. Basically, na dat controversial 'Title III' wey dem remove from 1957 Act and 1960 Act.

##### Lobbying efforts

After di March wey happen for Washington on August 28, 1963, civil rights leaders gather with President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson to talk about di civil rights law.
Dem dey push for Civil Rights Act with help from Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, na group wey get 70 liberal and labor organizations. Di main lobbyists for di Leadership Conference na civil rights lawyer Joseph L. Rauh Jr. and Clarence Mitchell Jr. from NAACP.

After di March wey dem do for Washington for Jobs and Freedom, on August 28, 1963, di organizers go see Kennedy make dem sabi di civil rights bill. Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, and Walter Reuther try reason am make e support law wey go fit establish Fair Employment Practices Commission wey go ban all di wahala wey dey happen from federal agencies, unions, and private companies.

Kennedy call the congressional leaders make dem come White House for late October 1963 to gather the votes wey needed for House to pass am. The bill dey come out from Judiciary Committee for November 1963 then dem push am to Rules Committee, wey the chairman, Howard W. Smith, wey be Democrat and strong segregationist from Virginia, talk say e go put the bill for one corner make e no go anywhere.

##### Johnson's appeal to Congress

Di assasination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy for November 22, 1963, shake di political ground. Kennedy wey come after am, Lyndon B. Johnson, use hin experience for politics and di bully pulpit wey e get as president to push di bill. For im first talk to di Congress on November 27, 1963, Johnson tell di lawmakers, "No memorial oration or eulogy fit honor President Kennedy memory pass make dem pass di civil rights bill wey hin fight for long."

Judiciary Committee chairman Celler don file petition make dem discharge di bill from di Rules Committee; e need majority of House members to carry di bill go floor. At first, Celler dey struggle to gather di signatures wey necessary, as plenty Representatives wey support di civil rights bill still dey careful about breaking di normal House procedure with dis kind rare discharge petition. By di time wey 1963 winter break come, dem still need 50 signatures.

After Congress don come back from dem winter break, e clear say people for North dey support the bill, and dem go fit gather all the signatures wey dem need. To avoid shame wey go come from successful discharge petition, Chairman Smith gree make the bill pass through the Rules Committee.

##### Passage insyd de Senate

Activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X at the United States Capitol on March 26, 1964, listening to the Senate debate on the bill. The two met for only one minute.
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among the guests behind him is Martin Luther King Jr.
Johnson wey wan make dem pass di bill as soon as possible, make sure say e go get chance for di Senate sharp sharp.

Normally, di bill for go meet di Senate Judiciary Committee wey James O. Eastland dey lead, na Democrat from Mississippi, wey dey oppose am strong, make am seem like say di bill no go fit reach di Senate floor. Di Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield come find new way to stop di Judiciary Committee from holding di bill for long: e no gree do second reading after di first one, wey go send am go di Judiciary Committee, instead, he take rare steps give di bill second reading on February 26, 1964, bypass di Judiciary Committee, and carry am go di Senate floor for urgent debate.

When dem bring di bill come for di full Senate for debate on March 30, 1964, di 'Southern Bloc' of 18 southern Democratic Senators plus one Republican John Tower from Texas, wey Richard Russell (D-GA) lead, start filibuster to stop am from passing. Russell talk say, 'We go fight till di end any measure or movement wey go try mix di races for our [Southern] states.'

Senator Strom Thurmond wey still be Democrat then, come vex well for the bill: "Dis wetin dem dey call Civil Rights Proposals, wey the President don send go Capitol Hill make dem pass am into law, e no get any constitution, e no needed, e no wise and e dey enter where reason no dey. E be the worst civil-rights package wey dem don show Congress, e dey remind me of di Reconstruction proposals and actions of di radical Republican Congress."

After dem don dey talk finish for 54 days, Senators Mansfield, Hubert Humphrey, Everett Dirksen, and Thomas Kuchel bring one new bill wey dem dey hope go fit solve the palava by mix plenty Republicans with some solid liberal Democrats. The new bill no strong like the House version for how government fit control private business, but e no weak reach make the House change their mind.

Senator Robert Byrd stop him filibuster wey he dey oppose di bill for morning of June 10, 1964, after 14 hours and 13 minutes. Before dat, di measure don dey occupy di Senate for 60 working days, with six Saturdays join. Di day before, Humphrey, wey dey manage di bill, don conclude say e get di 67 votes wey be required to end di debate and filibuster. With six senators wey dey waka small, dem get four votes wey help dem win, di final count be 71 to 29. E neva happen before for di whole history say di Senate fit gather enough votes to quench filibuster for civil rights bill, and only one time for di 37 years since 1927 e don agree for any measure.

Dramatic moment wey happen for the cloture vote be when Senator Clair Engle (D-CA) roll enter the chamber. Him dey suffer from serious brain cancer, no fit talk, but him point to him left eye, show say e dey vote ‘Aye’ when dem call am. Seven weeks later, him die.

##### Final passage

For June 19, dem pass the compromise bill for Senate with 73–27 vote, e sharp sharp go through conference committee wey gree the Senate version. Both houses of Congress follow am, and Johnson sign am into law for July 2, 1964.

### Vote totals

Totals dey insyd *Yea*–*Nay* format:

* Original House version: 290–130 (69–31%)
* Cloture in the Senate: 71–29
* Senate version: 73–27
* Senate version, as voted on by the House: 289–126 (70–30%)

##### Aspects

##### Women's rights

Waka H.R. 7152 wey dem fit add sex join di list wey no go fit face discrimination, as di House of Representatives don pass am.
One year before, the same Congress don pass Equal Pay Act for 1963 wey no gree wage difference based on sex. Dem add di rule wey no go allow sex discrimination to di Civil Rights Act with Howard W. Smith, wey be big man for Virginia Democrat wey dey lead House Rules Committee and e no gree di law at all. Smith amendment pass for teller vote 168 to 133. Historians dey argue whether Smith wan stop di bill because e no support civil rights for Black people and women or if e try help dem by making di bill cover women too. Smith tink say Republicans, wey don add women right for dia party talk since 1944, go surely vote for the amendment. Historians dey reason say Smith wan make northern Democrats wey no gree for women civil rights feel bad, 'cause labor unions no dey support dat clause. Representative Carl Elliott from Alabama later talk say, 'Smith no care about women right', as 'he dey try take votes wey go help am now or later because some men wey no dey support women right still dey strong'. According to Congressional Record, when Smith bring the amendment come, dem dey laugh well well.

Smith talk say e no dey joke and e really dey support di amendment. E and Representative Martha Griffiths, na di main people wey dey talk for di amendment. For 20 years, Smith don dey sponsor di Equal Rights Amendment (no dey link am to racial wahala) for di House because e believe say e go make sense. E don dey tight with di National Woman's Party and dia leader Alice Paul, wey na one of di main people wey help women take di vote for 1920, wey co-write di first Equal Rights Amendment, and e don dey support equal rights proposal since. She and other feminist don work with Smith since 1945 to find way wey dem go fit include sex as protected civil rights category, and dem feel say now na di time. Griffiths talk say di new law go protect black women but e no go protect white women, and dat one dey unfair to white women. Black feminist lawyer Pauli Murray write support memo for di National Federation of Business and Professional Women. Griffiths also argue say di laws wey dey "protect" women from bad jobs dey actually make men fit take over di jobs, and dat one dey unfair to women wey no fit try dem. Di amendment pass with Republican and Southern Democrat votes. Di final law pass with Republican and Northern Democrat votes. So as Justice William Rehnquist talk for Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, "Dem no go allow make you discriminate people because of their sex, dem add am to Title VII just before dem pass am for House of Representatives [...] the bill just pass quick, so we no get plenty history to help us understand wetin the law talk about discrimination for 'sex.'

##### Desegregation

One of di arguments wey people wey no support di bill use wey dey really affect dem be say if dem pass di bill, e go force busing to fit some racial numbers for schools. Di people wey dey push di bill, like Emanuel Celler and Jacob Javits, talk say e no go allow dat kind thing. Di main person wey sponsor di bill, Hubert Humphrey, write two amendments wey dey try stop busing. Humphrey talk say, "if di bill go force am, e go be violation [of di Constitution] because e go dey do matter based on race and we go dey move children because of race." Javits talk say any government person wey wan use di bill for busing go just dey make fool of himself, but two years later, Department of Health, Education and Welfare talk say Southern school districts go need busing to fit mathematical ratio of students.

## United States Supreme Court cases

### Title II case law

#### *Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States* (1964)

#### *Katzenbach v. McClung* (1964)

#### *United States v. Johnson* (1968)

#### *Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc.* (1968)

#### *Daniel v. Paul* (1969)

#### *McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green* (1973)

### Title VI case law

#### *Lau v. Nichols* (1974)

#### *Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke* (1978)

#### *Alexander v. Sandoval* (2001)

#### *Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard* (2023)

### Title VII case law

#### *Griggs v. Duke Power Co.* (1971)

#### *Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp.* (1971)

#### *Washington v. Davis* (1976)

#### *TWA v. Hardison* (1977)

#### *Dothard v. Rawlinson* (1977)

#### *Christiansburg Garment Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission* (1978)

#### *Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson* (1986)

#### *Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins* (1989)

#### *Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio* (1989)

#### *United Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc.* (1991)

#### *Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services* (1998)

*Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.*, 523 U.S. 75 (1998) further rule say same-sex harassment be discrimination under Title VII.

#### *Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White* (2006)

#### *Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.* (2007)

#### *Ricci v. DeStefano* (2009)

#### *University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar* (2013)

#### *Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores* (2015)

#### *Green v. Brennan* (2016)

#### *Bostock v. Clayton County* (2020) and *Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda* (2020)

Na *Bostock* be consolidated plus *Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda*. Before de Supreme Court ein intervention, na der be a split insyd de circuit courts, wey dey include dese two cases as well as *Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital* insyd de Eleventh Circuit.

#### *R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission* (2020)

*R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission* determine say Title VII dey cover gender identity, wey dey include transgender status.

#### *Groff v. DeJoy* (2023)

* Branch, Taylor (1998), *Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963–65*, New York: Simon & Schuster.
* Freeman, Jo. "How 'Sex' Got Into Title VII: Persistent Opportunism as a Maker of Public Policy" *Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice*, Vol. 9, No. 2, March 1991, pp. 163–184. online version
* Golway, Terry (2010). *JFK: Day by Day: A Chronicle of the 1,036 Days of John F. Kennedy's Presidency*. Running Press. ISBN 9780762437429.
* Harrison, Cynthia (1988), *On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues 1945–1968*, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
* Jeong, Gyung-Ho, Gary J. Miller, and Itai Sened, "Closing the Deal: Negotiating Civil Rights Legislation", *American Political Science Review*, 103 (Nov. 2009)
* Loevy, Robert D. ed. (1997), *The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Passage of the Law That Ended Racial Segregation*, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
* Risen, Clay. *The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act* (2014) online

## Read further

* Brauer, Carl M., "Women Activists, Southern Conservatives, and the Prohibition of Sexual Discrimination in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act", 49 *Journal of Southern History*, February 1983.
* Burstein, Paul (1985), *Discrimination, Jobs and Politics: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity in the United States since the New Deal*, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
* Finley, Keith M. (2008), *Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938–1965*, Baton Rouge: LSU Press.
* Graham, Hugh (1990), *The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960–1972*, New York: Oxford University Press.
* Gregory, Raymond F. (2014). *The Civil Rights Act and the Battle to End Workplace Discrimination.* Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
* Loevy, Robert D. (1990), *To End All Segregation: The Politics of the Passage of The Civil Rights Act of 1964*, Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

* Loevy, Robert D. "The Presidency and Domestic Policy: The Civil Rights Act of 1964," in David C. Kozak and Kenneth N. Ciboski, ed., *The American Presidency* (Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1985), pp. 411–419. online version
* Mann, Robert (1996). *The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights.*
* Pedriana, Nicholas, and Stryker, Robin. "The Strength of a Weak Agency: Enforcement of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Expansion of State Capacity, 1965–1971," *American Journal of Sociology*, Nov 2004, Vol. 110 Issue 3, pp 709–760
* *Revolution in Civil Rights*. Congressional Quarterly Service. 1967. OCLC 894988538.
* Rodriguez, Daniel B. and Weingast, Barry R. "The Positive Political Theory of Legislative History: New Perspectives on the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Its Interpretation", *University of Pennsylvania Law Review*, Vol. 151. (2003) online

* Rothstein, Mark A., Andria S. Knapp & Lance Liebman (1987). *Employment Law: Cases and Materials.* Foundation Press.
* Warren, Dan R. (2008), *If It Takes All Summer: Martin Luther King, the KKK, and States' Rights in St. Augustine, 1964*, Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.
* Whalen, Charles and Whalen, Barbara (1985), *The Longest Debate: A Legislative History of the 1964 Civil Rights Act*, Cabin John, MD: Seven Locks Press.
* Woods, Randall B. (2006), *LBJ: Architect of American Ambition*, New York: Free Press, ch 22.
* Zimmer, Michael J., Charles A. Sullivan & Richard F. Richards, *Cases and Materials on Employment Discrimination*, Little, Brown and Company (1982).

* Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended (PDF/details) in the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO) Statute Compilations collection
* Civil Rights Act of 1964 as enacted (details) in the US Statutes at Large
* Narrative: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Archived February 17, 2020, at the Wayback Machine – Provided by The Dirksen Center
* Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Provided by the Civil Rights Digital Library
* 110 Congressional Record (Bound) – Volume 110, Part 2 (January 30, 1964 to February 10, 1964), *Congressional Record* House February 10 vote roll call pp. 2804–2805
* 110 Congressional Record (Bound) – Volume 110, Part 11 (June 17, 1964 to June 26, 1964), *Congressional Record* Senate June 19 vote roll call p. 14511
* 110 Congressional Record (Bound) – Volume 110, Part 12 (June 29, 1964 to July 21, 1964), *Congressional Record* House July 2 amendment vote roll call p. 15897