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The Act created the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice and gave it the power to seek court injunctions against anyone interfering with the right to vote. It created the Civil Rights Commission increasing protection of voting rights and the power to investigate incidents involving the denial of voting rights. Facts about
Civil Rights Act of 1957 History: The Civil Rights Act of 1866 of the Reconstruction era detailed the rights of all U.S. citizens was passed by Congress as a response to the Black Codes enacted by many of the Southern states. History: The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was intended to to protect all citizens in their civil and legal rights but was practically ignored in the Southern states. In 1883, the Supreme Court declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional and it was never enacted. History: The 1883 Supreme Court ruling and the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson Case declared segregation to be constitutional which led to the segregation of the Jim Crow Laws and the "separate but equal" doctrine History: In 1954, the legal case of Brown vs Board of Education ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. History: The modern Civil Rights Movement (1954 - 1970) emerged led by Dr Martin Luther King which aimed at eliminating the practice of segregation. African Americans were encouraged to exercise their civil rights and register to vote. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a firm believer of the right to vote, sent the civil rights bill to congress aimed at protecting the voting rights of all citizens. President Eisenhower knew that the conservative Democrats in the southern states would try to block the legislation and hoped that the bill would split the Democrat party. Eisenhower also hoped that passing such a bill would convince African Americans to vote Republican. Attorney General Herbert Brownell played a major role in shaping the bill which was very similar to a 1956 bill which had not been enacted because of the resistance of Southern senators. The bill initially contained four parts:
The bill did not create new rights, but it prohibited attempts to intimidate or prevent persons from voting and laid the foundation for federal enforcement of civil rights law. Several Southern senators, led by Democrat Richard B. Russell of Georgia, attempted to block the Civil Rights Act of 1957. They successfully argued that Part 3 of the bill gave unprecedented power to the federal government to force school and housing integration and using armed forces to help enforce the judicial process. The Southern senators also successfully argued that Part 4 would mean that those who violated civil rights would be tried by a judge (rather than an all-white jury) which might be more lenient toward defendants in such cases As a result of the opposition, the Senate majority leader Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson, put together a compromise to enable the act to pass. Part 3 of the bill was omitted from the final version of the act and an additional Part 5 was added to the compromise in a "jury trial" provision. The bill passed the House of Representatives on June 18, 1957, by a vote of 286 to 126 and on September 9, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Although the Act of 1957 was much weaker than originally intended, it brought the power of the Federal government into the debates on Civil Rights issues. The law succeeded in showing that the Federal Government would not allow the southern states to do as they wished. The Act marked the first occasion, since the Reconstruction era, that the federal government undertook significant legislative action to protect civil rights. After the law was passed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), led by Dr Martin Luther King, announced a campaign to register new voters. The provisions of the 1957 law were amplified by the Civil Rights Act of 1960 that introduced penalties to be levied against those who obstructed attempts to register to vote or to actually vote. After the Selma March, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2, 1964, banning segregation and discrimination based on race, nationality, or gender. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed to safeguard the right to vote of Black Americans and bans the use of literacy tests. |
US American History |
1945-1993: Cold War Era |
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First Published2016-04-19 | |||
Updated 2018-01-01 |
Publisher Siteseen Limited | ||
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