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1865- End of the American Civil War/Start of Reconstruction

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1865- End of the American Civil War/Start of Reconstruction

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As the Civil War ended, the Southern States had to reconstruct government and society. The political and social rights of the millions of newly freed Americans would become an important part of the post-war period.

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The 13th Amendment forever abolished slavery as an institution in all U.S. states and territories. In addition to banning slavery, the amendment outlawed the practice of involuntary servitude. Even though slavery was abolished, slavery could be used as a punishment for a crime.

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The 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to anyone born in the US borders and anyone who became a citizen of the country. This amendment included African Americans who were freed from slavery after the American Civil War.

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The 15th Amendment guaranteed that the right to vote could not be based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. Almost immediately after ratification, African Americans began to take part in running for office and voting.

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May 17, 1954- Brown V Board of Education

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May 17, 1954- Brown V Board of Education

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Through this court case, the Supreme Court decided that separating children in public schools based on race is unconstitutional. This case started the "separate but equal" case around America.

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September 6, 1955- The Funeral of Emmett Till

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September 6, 1955- The Funeral of Emmett Till

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This was a funeral of a 14 year old black boy who was lynched because he was in the same room as a white woman for less than a minute. Emmett Till's mother wanted the funeral to be open to the public and a open casket so people could see the realities of the brutalities of lynching in the USA.

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Dec 5, 1955 – Dec 20, 1956-Montgomory Bus Boycott

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Dec 5, 1955 – Dec 20, 1956-Montgomory Bus Boycott

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The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling that bus segregation violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, which led to the successful end of the bus boycott on December 20, 1956.

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In 1957, nine ordinary teenagers walked out of their homes and stepped up to the front lines in the battle for civil rights for all Americans. The media coined the name “Little Rock Nine" to identify the first African American students to desegregate Little Rock Central High School.

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On February 1, 1960, four friends sat down at a lunch counter in Greensboro. The four people were African American, and they sat where African Americans weren't allowed to sit. They did this to take a stand against segregation. The Greensboro sit-ins were non-violent protests led by four college students in 1960 at a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina.

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1st February 1960: Start of the Greensboro sit-ins to protest segregation

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During the spring of 1961, student activists from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched the Freedom Rides to challenge segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals. Unfortunately, due to extreme racism, on May 14th, 1961, when the Greyhound bus arrived to Alabama, an angry mob attacked the freedom riders. This drew attention to the incident drawing attention to the injustice showing the rest of the world how violent the Deep South is to Black Americans.

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On May 2, 1963, more than one thousand students skipped classes and gathered at Sixth Street Baptist Church to march to downtown Birmingham, Alabama. As they approached police lines, hundreds were arrested and carried off to jail in paddy wagons and school buses.

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The March on Washington brought together many different civil rights groups, labor unions, and religious organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The March on Washington was one of the largest civil rights rallies in US history, and one of the most famous examples of non-violent mass direct action. The March on Washington was highly publicized in the news media and helped to gather momentum for the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

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July 2, 1964- The Civil Rights Act of 1964

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July 2, 1964- The Civil Rights Act of 1964

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It is often called the most important U.S. law on civil rights since Reconstruction and is a hallmark of the American civil rights movement. The act gave federal law enforcement agencies the power to prevent racial discrimination in employment, voting, and the use of public facilities.

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Table of Contents

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 do?

Who signed the Civil Rights Act into law?

Who had proposed the Civil Rights Act?

This article was most recently revised and updated by

Civil Rights Act, (1964), comprehensive U.S. legislation intended to end discrimination based on race, colour, religion, or national origin. It is often called the most important U.S. law on civil rights since Reconstruction (1865-77) and is a hallmark of the American civil rights movement. Title I of the act guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and procedures biased against minorities and the underprivileged. Title II prohibits segregation or discrimination in places of public accommodation involved in interstate commerce. Title VII bans discrimination by trade unions, schools, or employers involved in interstate commerce or doing business with the federal government. The latter section also applies to discrimination on the basis of sex and established a government agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), to enforce these provisions. In 2020 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that firing an employee for being gay, lesbian, or transgender is illegal under Title VII's prohibition of sex discrimination (Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia). The act also calls for the desegregation of public schools (Title IV), broadens the duties of the Civil Rights Commission (Title V), and assures nondiscrimination in the distribution of funds under federally assisted programs (Title VI).

The Civil Rights Act was a highly controversial issue in the United States as soon as it was proposed by Pres. John F. Kennedy in 1963. Although Kennedy was unable to secure passage of the bill in Congress, a stronger version was eventually passed with the urging of his successor, Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the bill into law on July 2, 1964, following one of the longest debates in Senate history. White groups opposed to integration with African Americans responded to the act with a significant backlash that took the form of protests, increased support for pro-segregation candidates for public office, and some racial violence. The constitutionality of the act was immediately challenged and was upheld by the Supreme Court in the test case Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (1964). The act gave federal law enforcement agencies the power to prevent racial discrimination in employment, voting, and the use of public facilities.

American civil rights movement Events

The 50th anniversary of the act was celebrated in April 2014 with an event at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Speakers included U.S. Pres. Barack Obama and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. The U.S. Congress marked the anniversary by posthumously awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King.

Adam Augustyn.

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Civil Rights Act | Summary, Facts, President, & History

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Civil Rights Act, (1964), comprehensive U.S. legislation intended to end discrimination based on race, colour, religion, or national origin. It is often called the most important U.S. law on civil rights since Reconstruction (1865-77) and is a hallmark of the American civil rights movement.

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February 21, 1965-Malcolm X Assassination 

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February 21, 1965-Malcolm X Assassination 

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On Feb. 21, 1965, Malcolm X was ambushed and fatally shot while delivering a speech. His wife and daughters were in the audience. Three men were convicted of his murder.

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March 7th-21st 1965-Selma Voting Campaign

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March 7th-21st 1965-Selma Voting Campaign

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The Selma to Montgomery march was part of a series of civil rights protests regarding voting rights protests that occurred in 1965 in Alabama, a Southern state with deeply entrenched racist policies. The historic march, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s participation in it, raised awareness of the difficulties faced by Black voters, and the need for a national Voting Rights Act.

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August 6th 1965-Voting Rights Act of 1965

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August 6th 1965-Voting Rights Act of 1965

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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed for no voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. The government aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

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After decades of advocacy, in 2022, The Emmett Till Antilynching Law was signed. This law defines lynching as a hate crime and gives specific penalties for lynching under law.