President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, outlawing discriminatory voting practices that have disenfranchised millions of African Americans since Reconstruction. The legislation passes the Senate 77-19 on May 26 and the House 333-85 on July 9, overcoming a 24-day …
President Lyndon B. JohnsonMartin Luther King Jr.John LewisSouthern Democratic SenatorsRichard Russellvoting-rightscivil-rightssouthern-strategyinstitutional-resistancevoter-suppression
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment and public accommodations. The legislation passes only after defeating a 60-working-day filibuster led by the “Southern …
President Lyndon B. JohnsonSouthern Democratic SenatorsRichard RussellStrom ThurmondSouthern business interests+1 morecivil-rightsinstitutional-capturesouthern-strategycorporate-resistancevoting-rights
On June 10, 1964, the United States Senate invoked cloture by a vote of 71 to 29, ending a 72-day filibuster against the Civil Rights Act—marking the first time in Senate history that cloture had been successfully invoked to break a filibuster on civil rights legislation. The Southern Bloc of 18 …
President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first federal civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, establishing the Civil Rights Division within the Department of Justice and authorizing federal prosecutors to seek injunctions against interference with voting rights. However, …
Dwight D. EisenhowerLyndon B. JohnsonStrom ThurmondRichard RussellAttorney General Herbert Brownell+1 morevoting-rightscivil-rightsfederal-legislationfilibustersouthern-strategy+1 more