Civil Rights Act 1964 & Voting Act 1965

Civil Rights Act 1964

President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and Lyndon B Johnson became President. Johnson was personally determined to get Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act.

Passing the Civil Rights Bill

Many Congressmen were reluctant to end de jure segregation.
However, the Civil Rights Bill was passed thanks to the campaigns conducted by black people in the early 1960s which had drawn mass sympathy for their cause.
To ensure that the Civil Rights Act was passed, Civil Rights campaigners such as the NAACP, labour unions and churches consistently lobbied Congress.
The American people also turned their support towards the Civil Rights Act, with 68% of Americans favouring the bill.

The memory of President Kennedy

Many congressional leaders wanted to pass the bill in the memory of President Kennedy who had believed strongly in the Civil Rights Act.
Johnson used the memory of President Kennedy to gain support in congress.
To gain further support for the Civil Rights Act, President Johnson told his fellow politicians that he would teach black people how to work and make sure that they become a strong, self-reliant community.

The significance of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

The Civil Rights Act:
- Prohibited discrimination in any public place
- Furthered school desegregation
- Established an Equal Employment Commission
- Gave the federal government legal tools to end de jure segregation

Limitations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Whilst this was a hugely significant bill, black people still didn’t have the vote and they still lived in some of the poorest areas in America.
Black peoples in the ghettos rioted as they felt that President Johnson needed to rectify the fact that they were living in poverty.

Lyndon B Johnson

Johnson’s Presidency marked a monumental step forward for black people.
- Under his rule, the 1964 Civil Rights and 1965 Voting Acts were passed.
- He also introduced subsidised health care (in the USA people had to pay for their own medical treatment as there was no NHS), unemployment programmes and welfare payments.
From 1965 he escalated America’s involvement in the Vietnam Conflict which lost him support.
- Johnson had a vision of a ‘Great Society’. He wanted to rid the United States of social injustices such as poverty.

Selma, Alabama 1965

Martin Luther King was still keen to get all black people the vote. So, after the Civil Rights Act had been passed continued to campaign vigorously.

Selma, Alabama

In Selma, Alabama, King continued to campaign with the SCLC.
Selma had a black population of 29,000 but only 1% were registered to vote.
King knew that the city was still inherently racist and he wanted to expose this to the media to try and get more support for the Civil Rights campaign.
King believed that Sheriff Jim Clark would respond violently against the campaigners which, if revealed in the media, would gain support for the movement.

Police brutality

SCLC and SNCC campaigners held a series of demonstrations to raise publicity.
As King predicted, the police reacted violently and in one case a policeman used cattle prods against protestors.
The police were also responsible for the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson who was 26 and had been protecting his mother and grandmother from a brutal police beating.
White people even threw poisonous snakes at black people who tried to vote.

Bloody Sunday

King organised a 50-mile march from Selma but the police stopped the march on two separate occasions by using bullwhips and tear gas.
- This event, known as ‘Bloody Sunday', gained King much publicity and sympathy in the media.
- Despite being deterred by the police and President Johnson, King continued to try and carry out the march.

The march from Selma

On the 21st March 1965, King carried out the march from Selma.
- The march began with 8,000 people and collected more supporters over time.
- By the fifth day, 25,000 people were marching.

Media attention

King and his movement gained mass publicity and sympathy from the media displays of events that were happening in Selma.
King himself was arrested as he tried to hold back racists who were attempting to beat a black woman.
- This gained him further publicity.
The events that occurred in Selma were vital in getting the Voting Acts Bill passed in 1965.
- Selma put monumental pressure on Congress and President Johnson to enfranchise black people.

Voting Act, 1965

Under President Johnson, Congress passed the Voting Act of 1965. This enfranchised African American people.

Extending the franchise

All tests that prevented American citizens from voting were forbidden.
The national government had greater power over the voting process which stopped local governments putting limits on black people.
The poll tax which was used to deny eligibility to vote was abolished.

Impact of the Voting Act

By 1966, only 4 of the Confederate States had fewer than 50% of eligible black voters.
By 1968, the number of black people voting in Mississippi had increased by 59%.
By 1980, there were only 7% fewer black voters than white voters nationally. This was still a significant difference, but it was a long way from the 1960s.

1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77

1.1The Thirteenth Amendment

1.1.1The Civil War & The Thirteenth Amendment

1.1.2The Impact of the Civil War

1.1.3Economic, Political & Social Position of Ex-Slaves

1.1.4Political Settlement & Andrew Johnson

1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77

1.2.1The Fourteenth Amendment

1.2.2The Fifteenth Amendment & The Civil Rights Act

1.3The Backlash

1.3.1White Supremacy Groups

1.3.2The End of Reconstruction 1887

2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890

2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases

2.1.1Jim Crow Laws

2.1.2Voting Rights

2.1.3Scientific Racism

2.1.4Civil Rights Cases

2.2Resistance and Migration

2.2.1The Northern States & Black Resistance

2.2.2Early Migration

2.2.3The Great Migration

2.2.4Race Riots

2.2.5Migration Case Study: Harlem

3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41

3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances

3.1.1The Democrat Party & the Anti-Lynching Bill

3.2The New Deal

3.2.1The New Deal

3.2.2The Alphabet Agencies

3.2.3The PWA, WPA & the NYA

3.2.4Benefits

3.2.5Impact of the New Deal & Eleanor Roosevelt

3.2.6Gone With the Wind

3.3The Second World War

3.3.1The Experience of War

3.3.2The Home Front

3.3.3The White Flight

3.3.4Restrictive Covenants

4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68

4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63

4.1.1The Desegregation of Schools

4.1.2The Montgomery Bus Boycott

4.1.3SCLC & Birmingham

4.1.4SNCC

4.1.5CORE

4.2Civil Rights 1964-68

4.2.1Civil Rights Act 1964 & Voting Act 1965

4.2.2Ghettos & Poverty

4.2.31966 - 1968

4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers

4.3.1The Nation of Islam & Malcolm X

4.3.2Divisions in the Civil Rights Movement

4.3.3The Black Panthers

4.4Literature, Film & Television

4.4.1Racial Attitudes in Literature from 1850-2009

4.4.2Racial Attitudes in Film from 1850-2009

4.4.3Racial Attitudes in Television from 1850-2009

5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09

5.1The Late 20th Century

5.1.1Migration Back to the South in the 20th Century

5.1.2The Status of Black People 1968-2009

5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career

5.2.1Barack Obama's Life

5.2.2Senator for Illinois

5.2.3Running as Presidential Candidate

5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory

5.3.1Reasons for Vicotry

5.3.2The Significance of Obama's Victory

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