Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965

1. Civil Rights Act of 1964andVoting Rights Act of 1965 Kaitlynn and Becca Period 8

2. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 • This act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964. It prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. • Was to improve the life of African Americans and other ethnicities • Did not resolve all problems but it help make progress in stopping discrimination. • http://www.history.com/videos/civil-rights-act-of-1964#civil-rights-act-of-1964

3. Civil Rights Act of 1964 Important Facts • Was a landmark piece of legislation to make the decision of outlawing major forms of decimation. • The assassination of John F. Kennedy changed the Civil Rights situation. Now Lyndon Johnson was in charge and he was in support of the bill to honor President Kennedy. • The Civil Rights Act wasn’t just for the African Americans; it was also rights for woman and rights for other ethnics groups.

4. Key Points for the Civil Rights Act • The Civil Rights Act has 10 major key points or titles such as: - Public Accommodations -Desegregation of Public Facilities/Education -Equal Employment Opportunity -Civil Rights Commission -Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs -Registration and Voting Statistics -Intervention and Removal of Cases -Community Relations Service -Miscellaneous The first title of the Civil Rights Act was Voting Rights.

5. What is the Voting Rights of 1965? • The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S - Enforce 15th amendment into the constitution - African Americans didn’t have the right to vote and were treated un-equal to the voting. - African Americans wanted equal rights and risked humiliation and their lives to get it.

6. Before the Amendment was Ratified • African Americans in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They also risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. As a result, very few African Americans were registered voters, and they had very little, if any, political power, either locally or nationally.

7. Protests and Violence Leading Up to the Ratification of the 15th Amendment • The murder of voting-rights activists in Mississippi and the attack by state troopers on peaceful marchers in Selma, AL, gained national attention and persuaded President Johnson and Congress to initiate meaningful and effective national voting rights legislation. • Starting in 1961, CORE joined SCLC in staging nonviolent demonstrations in Georgia, and Birmingham. They hoped to attract national media attention and pressure the U.S. government to protect Black's constitutional rights. Newspaper photos and TV broadcasts of Birmingham's racist police commissioner, Eugene "Bull" Connor, and his men violently attacking the protesters with water hoses, police dogs, and nightsticks awakened the consciences of whites. • Selma, Alabama was the site of the next campaign. In the first three months of 1965, Local residents and visiting volunteers held a series of marches demanding an equal right to vote. As in Birmingham, they met with violence and imprisonment

8. After the Amendment Got Ratified • - The combination of public revulsion to the violence and Johnson's political skills stimulated Congress to pass the voting rights bill on August 5, 1965. • - The law's effects were wide and powerful. By 1968, nearly 60 percent of eligible African Americans were registered to vote in Mississippi, and other southern states showed similar improvement. Between 1965 and 1990, the number of black state legislators and members of Congress rose from two to 160.