The Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

Introduction

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark in legislative attempts in the direction of improving the quality of life for African Americans and other minority groups. It helped in ending the segregation in public places and discrimination in various walks of life on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and origin. Although civil rights had continued to be a widely talked about topic, the years following 1960 saw a lot of activity on governmental level surrounding it. Though the Act did not solve the problems associated with discrimination, it was a positive step towards various discriminatory practices in the country and also towards the introduction of new laws such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Discussion

Brief Background

This landmark act has a long history before it was passed. The Constitution of the United States did not contain explicit protection to the rights of the minorities. It was after the Civil War that Amendments to the Constitution were brought in this regard. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments addresses the issue of slavery and outlawed it, guaranteed citizenship, stated for equal protection under the law and allowed African Americans to use their right to vote. Despite that various Supreme Court decisions and legislative modifications served in making no effect to the conditions of the minorities especially Blacks in the country. Their rights were abused yet nothing significant was done in this direction in those times.

The World War II brought a little stir to the movement of civil rights owing to the migration of Blacks to the northern centers and the treatment they went through during the War. In the years following that, interest was shown towards the protection of civil rights and the executive branch acted to end discrimination ...