Modern Civil Rights Legislation

Paper Summary:

This paper compares the Civil Rights Acts of 1950s and 1960s, discussing the influential factors of determining the differences, and the effect that it had on the African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and Native Alaskans.

From the Paper:

"The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbade discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, and national origin, was the most far-reaching bill on civil rights of the modern era (Modern 156). The major provisions of this act outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration, barred discrimination in public accommodations, such as hotels and restaurants, authorized federal prosecution to desegregate public schools and facilities and the withholding of federal funds, established the right to equality of opportunity in employment, and expanded the power of the Civil Rights Commission and extended it life (Modern 156).
Violence perpetrated against protesting African Americans and whites in the South led to a dramatic change in the climate of public opinion, thus spurring the passage of the 1964 act (Modern 156). Moreover, many believe that the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 had a significant effect on the national conscience, thus the act served as a tribute by Congress to the martyred President (Modern 156). However, the act was passed only after an eighty-three day filibuster, the longest in the history of the Senate, and cloture was imposed for the first time to cut off a civil rights filibuster (Modern 157). "

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