black history month

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2 of that year. It declared illegal certain long-practiced forms of discrimination, authorized the government to act against others and, perhaps most significantly, demonstrated a political consensus to wield federal authority against legal inequity "on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin."

In a nationally televised address that evening, Johnson declared:
"We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment.
"We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. Yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights.
"We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings--not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.
"The reasons are deeply imbedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand -- without rancor or hatred -- how all this happened.
"But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it."

Related article: Landmark Civil Rights Law