Civil Rights Act of 1964

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 a legislative landmark effort within the United States, that advanced the ideal of political and social equality by validating the right to nondiscrimination in locales of public accomodation and the right to equal employment opportunity. It outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Originally conceived as a mechanism to protect the rights of American blacks, the bill, prior to its passage, was amended to protect the civil rights of all citizens, and, for the first time, to explicitly include women.

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 subsequent programs (such as affirmative action) were made possible by the Act.

Legislative History

The bill was promised by President John F. Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11 1963, 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:

• The Original House Version: 290-130   (69%-31%)
• The Senate Version: 73-27   (73%-27%)
• The Senate Version, as voted on by the House: 289-126   (70%-30%)

By Party

The Original House Version:

• Democratic Party: 153-96   (61%-39%)
• Republican Party: 138-34   (80%-20%)

• Democratic Party: 46-22   (68%-32%)
• Republican Party: 27-6   (82%-18%)

The Senate Version, voted on by the House:

• Democratic Party: 153-91   (63%-37%)
• Republican Party: 136-35   (80%-20%)

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:

• Southern Democrats: 7-87   (7%-93%)
• Southern Republicans: 0-10   (0%-100%)

• Northern Democrats: 145-9   (94%-6%)
• Northern Republicans: 138-24   (85%-15%)

The Senate Version:

• Southern Democrats: 1-20   (5%-95%)
• Southern Republicans: 0-1   (0%-100%)
• Northern Democrats: 45-1   (98%-2%)
• Northern Republicans: 27-5   (84%-16%)

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." [1] 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.)

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 VI

Title VI of the Act prevents discrimination by government agencies that receive federal funding. If an agency is found in violation of Title VI, that agency can lose its federal funding.

Title VII

Title VII of the Act, codified as Subchapter VI of Chapter 21 of Title 42 of the United States Code, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., outlaws discrimination in employment in any business on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin (see 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2). Title VII also prohibits retaliation against employees who oppose such unlawful discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces Title VII (see 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-4). 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:

• Federal government;
• Religious groups performing work connected to the group's activities, including associated education institutions;
• Bona fide nonprofit private membership organizations.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Brauer, Carl M. "Women Activists, Southern Conservatives, and the Prohibition of Sex Discrimination in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act" Journal of Southern History, February 1983, Baton Rouge, La. : Southern Historical Association ISSN 00224642 p.49

• Burstein, Paul. Discrimination, Jobs and Politics: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity in the United States since the New Deal : With a New Introduction. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c1998 ISBN 0226081362

• 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

• Graham, Hugh Davis. The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960-1972. New York : Oxford University Press, 1990 ISBN 0195045319

• Harrison, Cynthia Ellen. On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues 1945-1968. Berkeley : University of California Press, c1988 ISBN 0520061217

• Loevy, Robert D. To End All Segregation: The Politics of the Passage Of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Lanham : University Press of America, c1990 ISBN 0819176893

• Loevy, Robert D., ed. The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Passage of the Law That Ended Racial Segregation. Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, c1997 ISBN 0791433625 With contributions by Hubert H. Humphrey, Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., and John G. Stewart.

• 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. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Law School, Vol. 151, 2003 ISSN 00419907

• Whalen, Charles W. and Whalen, Barbara. The Longest Debate: A Legislative History of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Cabin John, Maryland : Seven Locks Press, c1985 ISBN 0932020348

• Civil Rights bill.

• MLK's famous speech, plus background including Civil Rights bill.

• 1963 March on Washington, civil rights including JFK death date.

• Presidency book excerpt, the legislative history of this bill as it became an Act.

• Background facts including enactment date.

Footnotes

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