EOTO: Civil Rights Act of 1964 & Voting Rights Act of 1965

March on Washington - August 28th, 1963

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 represents the most comprehensive civil rights legislation in American history. President Johnson signed this act into law on July 2nd, 1964, exactly one decade after the Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

President Johnson shaking MLK's hand after signing Civil Rights Act

The timing of this law is important. Even though the Supreme Court had said 10 years earlier that segregating students by race in public schools was unconstitutional, not much had actually changed in that time. Southern states employed various strategies to avoid the ruling, including resistance campaigns, the establishment of private segregated academies, & delays in desegregation plans. The Civil Rights Act provided the federal government with concrete tools to address this resistance.

The act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations, including restaurants, hotels, theaters, & other establishments serving the general public. This provision addressed the daily humiliations that African Americans faced when traveling or conducting business, where they were routinely denied service based on their race.

It also authorized the federal government to file lawsuits to desegregate schools & provided financial assistance to school districts undertaking desegregation. This law was a direct response to the fact that Brown v. Board wasn’t fully carried out. Instead of waiting for private citizens to file lawsuits, the federal government could now step in & take action itself.

The act also said that any program or organization that receives federal money cannot discriminate. This gave the government a lot of power, because it could take away funding from places that kept discriminating. For schools, hospitals, & other groups that rely on federal money, this made it very important to follow desegregation rules.

It also made it illegal for employers to discriminate based on race, religion, or sex & created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to handle complaints & make sure the law was followed. This expanded civil rights protections into the workplace & helped address economic inequality.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6th, 1965, just thirteen months after the Civil Rights Act.

President Johnson signing Voting Rights Act

While Brown v. Board of Education dealt with equal education, voting was another area where African Americans were systematically excluded. Even though the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) said voting rights could not be denied because of race, Southern states had created many ways to get around this rule.

Bloody Sunday - March 7th, 1965

The immediate push for the Voting Rights Act came from the violence in Selma, Alabama, on March 7th, 1965, known as Bloody Sunday. State troopers attacked peaceful marchers demanding voting rights, and the televised images caused national outrage. This helped build strong political support for a new voting rights law.

The Act directly challenged the tactics that had kept Black Americans from voting. It banned literacy tests, which had been unfairly used against Black applicants, as well as poll taxes and other financial barriers. It also outlawed intimidation and threats used to stop African Americans from registering or voting.

The law went beyond banning discrimination, it created strong enforcement tools. Section 5 required states and counties with histories of discrimination to get federal approval (called preclearance) before changing any voting laws. This stopped them from inventing new discriminatory rules to replace the old ones.

MLK casting his vote

The Act also allowed the federal government to send officials to register voters in places where discrimination was happening and to send observers to monitor elections. This ensured that voting rights were protected in real life, not just on paper.

The effects were quick and significant. Across the South, Black voter registration increased from 23% to 61% within 4 years. This increase in political participation reshaped American democracy and finally gave African Americans a powerful voice in the political system.