The Civil Rights Act of 1964

After President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson urged Congress to pass the civil rights bill as a memorial to him. Southern senators mounted a filibuster that lasted around sixty working days, the longest in Senate history up to that point, until a bipartisan coalition of Northern Democrats and Republicans led by Everett Dirksen voted to end debate.

Johnson signed the act on 2 July 1964. Title II banned discrimination in public accommodations such as hotels and restaurants; Title VII banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; other sections addressed school desegregation and federal funding.

The word 'sex' was added to Title VII during House debate, with significant consequences for women's rights. In 1964 the Supreme Court upheld the law's public accommodations section under Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce. The act transformed daily life, though enforcement was uneven.