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THE CIVIL
RIGHTS ACT OF
1964
Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................1
Background to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.............................................................................2
Jim Crow Laws..............................................................................................................................2
How the Jim Crow Laws affected African Americans?....................................................................................2

Peaceful Protests..........................................................................................................................2
Montgomery Bus Boycott................................................................................................................................2
Lunch Counter sit-ins.......................................................................................................................................3

Factors that were important in bringing about the 1964 Civil.............................................4

Martin Luther King........................................................................................................................4
Presidential support.....................................................................................................................4
Peaceful protests and the media..................................................................................................4
MLK: I have a dream.....................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................6
Bibliography......................................................................................................................7
Introduction
The Civil Rights movement was a term given to an organised effort of activism that fought to get
political, social and economic rights for African Americans in America during the time period 1946 to
1968. Civil rights activists used many forms of trying to get their point across like lawsuits, lobbying
and mass direct action.
The Civil Rights movement effort wasn’t a new thing to America. Efforts had started to be made in
hopes of improving life for African Americans during the late 18 th century, abolitionists were starting
work on trying to eradicate the racial injustice and end slavery. The President at the time Abraham
Lincoln issued the “Emancipation Proclamation” which translates to the Thirteenth Amendment. This
Amendment outlawed slavery in 1865.
Once the Civil war ended, there was a time in American history that was known as Reconstruction
this was the time that passages of the fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments made clear that African
Americans had political equality.
However, despite these efforts in creating racial equality by abolishing slavery and more rights for
African Americans the civil rights movement wasn’t over and even though the amendments had
been passed, racial segregation arose in the south. This was known as the Jim Crow Laws. These laws
meant that African Americans in the south would continue to live as second-class citizens and live in
poverty and inequality.

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Background to the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow laws where a set of laws that were imposed in the South that enforced racial
segregation. The Jim Crow laws got its name as it’s a derogatory slang term for a Black man. It
became a slur as crows are black birds and also Crow was the last name for a racist fictional
character played by a white man in black face. The name Jim Crow was first used by a man called
Thomas D. rice, an actor who was a black face actor. it was on a blackface makeup routine that was
called “jump Jim crow.’ thus, Jim crow becoming a slur.
Jim Crow laws required separation between the blacks and the whites initially just transportation
and schools, however it expanded segregation to include blacks and whites interacting, mixing in
school, parks, restaurants and theatres.

How the Jim Crow Laws affected African Americans?

Jim Crow Laws affected African Americans immensely, as these laws basically took any rights they
had gained with the new Amendments away. The first step Jim crow laws took was to stop African
American men to vote. They done this by starting literacy tests, poll taxes, more complex registration
systems and then went on to white only Democratic Party primaries in hopes to exclude black
voters. Looking at statistics in Mississippi and Louisiana you can see these tactics worked. In 1890 in
Mississippi it was less than 9,000 out of 147,000 African Americans were registered to vote. And in
Louisiana in 1896 there were 130,000 African American voters registered, but by 1904 that number
had fell to 1,342. Also, a Jim Crow song book was published, it gives an early depiction of the
minstrel-show character Jim Crow and was used to describe the laws that were aimed at segregating
the blacks from the whites.
Marriage was also affected by the Jim Crow laws as Marriage, already being a widely politically
debated topic, Jim Crow laws made interracial marriage impossible. The law in California stated that
‘All Marriages of white persons with Negroes, Mongolians, members of the Malay race, or mulattoes
are illegal and void.” And in Florida it was stated the same and it was “hereby forever prohibited.
It also affected education and medicine. Jim Crow laws made sure schools were segregated and the
better education going to the whites, not the black schools, this almost insuring that after education
African American people wouldn’t be given the same opportunities as the whites. And this then
affected the African American health care as hospitals were segregated and since it was more
difficult for a African American to gain jobs and opportunities for the medical profession meant their
health care was bare minimum standard if not worse.

Peaceful Protests
A major factor in the civil rights movement was the use of Peaceful Protests. Civil rights leader
Martin Luther King was a great advocate on using peaceful protests to campaign for equal rights. The
key was that these protests were to be peaceful, there was no need nor want for violence. Using this
method of peaceful protests and acts of civil defiance proved successful.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest that an abundance of people took part in. It started
when a woman called Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white person.
On December 1, 1955. The local laws stated that she had to give up her seat, being an African
American woman, to any white person that wanted/needed It. However on this day, she refused and
wouldn’t get up until she was removed and arrested. In the future she said on that day she’d just

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had enough, she was tired of the ways African Americans got treated. Rosa Parks wasn’t the first to
refuse, but civil rights leaders decided to use this opportunity to challenge the segregation laws on
the busses.
And this started the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a peaceful protest that lasted just over a year.
They believed the boycott would work as African Americans where the primary users of the busses
and after the first day they saw how successful it was they decided to carry it on.
it wasn’t all peaceful during this protest and the black protestors and leaders received a lot of
retaliation for conducting this by white supremacists. They Bombed Martin Luther King’s home, the
boycotters were threatened of getting fired and the Police were involved in arresting boycott
protestors. Nevertheless, on June 5th 1956 a federal court decided that segregation on busses was
‘unconstitutional.’ And the ruling that busses should be de-segregated and was upheld in the
Supreme Court, mid-November it came into effect. And the bus companies had took such a hit in
profits, they were nearly bankrupt.

Lunch Counter sit-ins

The lunch Counter sit-ins was another way of non-violent protesting and was first introduced in
North Carolina during the 1960’s. The sit in started as an act of ‘civil disobedience’ and was
demonstrating in hope of sympathy for those involved and to create an awareness and sympathy
from those who weren’t involved.
In North Carolina many African Americans, mainly students, would deliberately go to segregated
lunch counters and sit in all available spaces, try to order and when refused, they’d refuse to leave,
as being denied service for the colour of their skin wasn’t a reason to refuse service and to get them
to move.
This protest method created a lot of publicity for the issue surrounding segregation and even though
the first sit in protest only involved 4 African Americans, in the South during 1960 and 1961 it
included 70,000 black and white participants. And affected 20 states. This then resulted in many
local businesses to desegregate.

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Factors that were important in bringing about the 1964
Civil
Martin Luther King.
Martin Luther King worked greatly to help create equality in America during the civil rights
movement, an did so using the method of non-violent protest.
He had a great influence on American society during the 1950’s and 60’s. The nonviolent protests
sent out a helpful message that using the likes of boycotts, protests and marches were effective and
using these would result in a win for Black people’s rights. And it was effective getting legislation
passed about racial discrimination.
King has a lot of great accomplishments in bringing about the Civil Rights Act like, providing a strong
and stable leadership during Montgomery Bus Boycott which resulted in desegregation of busses.
Also delivering his well-known “I have a dream” speech which help create a large consensus that
black people’s life’s do matter and should be fought for. Another being him advocating for the
nonviolent protest in the Memphis Sanitation Worker Strike in 1968, however the day after he was
advocating for this protest, King was shoot while standing on a balcony at the Lorraine motel, he was
assassinated. A man James Earl Ray committed this crime and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Presidential support
Presidential Support was important when It came to bringing around the Civil rights Act. The first
President that helped influence this bill and movement was Abraham Lincoln, who is best known for
abolishing slavery in 1863. When he signed off on the 13 th Amendment and he declared ‘all persons
held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free.” Ending slavery brought about the movement on
African Americans having the same rights as whites.
Another president is John F Kennedy. John F Kennedy was vital in bringing about the civil rights act,
as he was the original one to get the ball rolling on the act. Although he was seen as ‘noncommittal’
and didn’t show much of a stance on civil rights at first, since he depended on votes from
Southerners, who opposed African Americans getting equal rights, to get back into office. He wasn’t
that public on civil rights, but after to many incidents took place, he ultimately started the Civil
Rights Act, but the bill he sent was known as the civil rights bill. This bill would include “Title VII of
the act prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.”
5 Months after the announcement, Kennedy was assassinated in public, and never got to sign the
bill.
Which leads on to the President who signed the Civil Rights Bill, Lyndon Johnson. Lyndon Baines
Johnson “has been credited with being one of the most important figures in the civil rights
movement.” Johnson was the man who put the presidential signature on the Civil Rights Act.

Peaceful protests and the media

Peaceful protests were one of the most important methods used when trying to get Civil rights in
America. Through the use of non-violent protests, protestors manged to desegregate a majority of
public places and brought about the Civil rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Peaceful Protests were mainly taken place between the years 1955 to 1965. Be that with Bus
Boycotts, Freedom Riders, Sit-ins and marches. Bus Boycotts started when Rosa Parks was arrested
after refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. African Americans then
organised the boycott and instead of using the busses they walked, or car pooled, to express their
views. This went on for around a year, not long over a year. Due to the boycotts the Bus companies

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nearly went bankrupt, so they desegregated. This was vital for the Civil rights movement as it
showed African Americans could make change and had power as a customer.
Events at the Little Rock High School in Arkansas was another event that helped. Nine African
American enrolled in a Whites only school in Little Rock. Sent by the governor, state troopers were
sent in to stop them, however, the Federal Government got involved and made sure the pupils could
attend. No matter how the angry mobs that had gathered around said or done. This was important
as it was the first step of Schools becoming desegregated in the South.
The media also proved useful, if the media hadn’t been there to broadcast the protests like the
freedom riders, sit ins or marches, then the message of the protests wouldn’t have reached such a
wide audience and gained sympathy and affected so many people. And wouldn’t have embarrassed
the Government into actually tackling this issue.

MLK: I have a dream.

Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech before a March on Washington,
the March had 250,000 people attend. His speech is one of the most famous speeches in history.
And has been classed as one of the most important moments of the Civil Rights movement. In his
speech he includes references to Americas founding fathers pointing out the founding fathers had
signed a ‘promissory note” that offered great opportunities and freedom. The Bible and universal
themes to call attention to the struggles African Americans had been facing in America. He repeated
the mantra “I have a dream” offering up hope that there would be a nation in America one day were
people weren’t ‘judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Kings closing remarks in the speech, after expressing his hope for a better future, was “and when we
allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and
every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white
men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the worlds
of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’” This
speech helped massively in gaining more positivity and warmth towards the Civil Rights movement,
it was broadcasted and listened to by thousands. It shifted people towards a more optimistic and
compassionate feeling that Black life’s mattered and what was going on was wrong, proving vital to
the civil rights act.

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Conclusion
There were many different factors in bringing about the act, all as important as each other like
protests, Presidential support and Civil Rights movement leaders. The Civil Rights act helped rid
America of segregation and helped encourage a path of equality. The Civil Rights Act called for all
segregation to end on the grounds of race, national origin and religion, many believed it was long
called for.
The Civil Rights movement wouldn’t have been successful if it hadn’t had the help of the media, of
great leaders such as Martin Luther King who described the Civil Rights act as a “second
emancipation” and the support of people fighting to achieve the Act.
I believe the work that went into gaining support for this bill to be passed wasn’t a waste. It showed
African Americans that change was possible, and also showed white people that no matter what
colour of skin, everyone should be equal and treated the same. It’s also paved way to more laws like
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The Voting act prohibited
discriminatory on voting and the Fair Housing Act that banned discrimination when it came to sale,
rental and financing of property.
America, even to this day, still has a long way to go in equality, but the effort put into changing that,
like the Civil Rights act and Voting Rights act, defiantly had an effect in changing opinions and It
helped improve the lives of black people in America and help set up a road to a new America,
hopefully one not filled with racism.

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