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Article: Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.
Congressional concern for civil rights diminished with the end of Reconstruction and the Supreme Court's 1883 decision in the Civil Rights Cases holding the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional. In 1957, Congress, under pressure from the civil rights movement, finally returned to the issue. However, the congressional response was a modest statute creating the Civil Rights Commission with power to investigate civil rights violations but not to enforce civil rights laws and establishing a feeble remedy for voting rights violations. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 slightly strengthened the voting rights provision.
During his campaign ...