Civil Right Legislation

<h1>Text Preview</h1> <p> <P>Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Jr., on November 22, 1963, Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson mournfully assumed the role of the nation's leader. Johnson, a former senator from Texas, served as the Senate Democratic Leader for most of his congressional career. His political role model was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Johnson openly followed Roosevelt's push for social welfare reform.</P> </p> <p> <P>Johnson's social reform philosophy was based around his "Great Society" initiative. The initiative included measures to tackle poverty and increase the quality of medical care in America. In 1962, public support for Johnson's anti-poverty program was solidified when Michael Harrington published his book <i>The Other America</i>. Harrington reported that 20 percent of America's population—and nearly 40 percent of the black population—lived in poverty. Many Americans, who lived in relative prosperity, were startled by Harrington's findings. </P> </p> <p> <P>Months after assuming the presidency, Johnson entered the 1964 election race to seek the office based on his own platform. Johnson won a landslide victory against Republican candidate Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Voters, fond of the Kennedy legacy and the promise of a Great Society, championed Johnson as a man who could lead the nation during troubled times. <br></P> <P>As Johnson ran for president, legislators worked in support of poor Americans. In January 1964, Congress ratified the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, which abolished any form of payment, usually called a poll tax, as a prerequisite for voting in federal elections. The Amendment was aimed at ending voting discrimination against impoverished Americans, specifically southern blacks who were often too poor to pay a tax to vote. </P> </p> <p> <P>With Johnson's support, Congress passed Kennedy's Civil Rights Bill during the summer of 1964. Johnson, a skilled legislator who intimately understood the politics of Congress, argued that passing Kennedy's civil rights legislation "for which he fought so long" would be a fitting tribute to the fallen president's legacy. Johnson's appeal led to a groundswell of bi-partisan support and allowed him to break a Senate filibuster and pass the legislation. <br></P> <P>The sweeping legislation ushered in a new era for the civil rights movement. For the first time in America's history, hotels and restaurants could not discriminate against blacks, employers had to end job discrimination based on race, and the federal government could sue school systems that refused to desegregate. By allowing the federal government to sue, private citizens no longer suffered the burden of having to litigate civil rights violations. </P> </p> <p> <P>To enforce the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, the federal government formed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The commission banned all discrimination based on race, religion, gender, and national origin in an act that became known as Title VII. Following passage of the Civil Rights Bill and the establishment of the EEOC, most businesses in the south immediately desegregated. </P> </p> <p> <P>Despite the sweeping reforms that emerged from the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, the legislation did not address the issue of voting. In 1965, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., announced a campaign to enroll three million black voters. Selma, Alabama was selected as the focal point of the voting drive. The lack of registered black voters in the city, only 383 of the community's nearly 15,000 black citizens, illustrated the need for change. <br></P> <P>Civil rights leaders announced a 50-mile protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama's capital. As protestors marched outside of Selma, state troopers quickly and violently dispersed the group with teargas and whips. The protestors fought back by taking their case to court, and a federal judge allowed the march to continue. To ensure a peaceful march, Johnson provided National Guardsmen and Military Police to protect the marchers.</P> </p> <p> <P>In response to the violence in Selma, Johnson urged Congress to immediately pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The resulting law ensured that all citizens had the right to vote and authorized the Attorney General to dispatch hundreds of federal examiners to register voters in the south. The law made literacy tests illegal if fewer than 50 percent of all voting-age citizens were registered to vote, and outlawed other archaic voter requirements, including a well-known Mississippi law. The Mississippi law required that all prospective black voters have their names published in the paper for two consecutive weeks before registering to vote, virtually ensuring economic reprisals for those who wanted to register. </P> </p> <p> <P>By the end of 1965, government reform seemed to be working as approximately 250,000 African Americans were newly registered voters. During the next three years, more than 700,000 blacks would exert political influence by registering to vote. For the first time since Reconstruction, blacks were moving back to the south, organized and ready to make a political difference. </P> </p> <p id="TextCopyright">Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education</p>