Fair Housing Act of 1968
The Fair Housing Act became law on April 11, 1968, just days after King’s assassination. It prevented housing discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, and religion. It was also the last legislation enacted during the civil rights era.
The civil rights movement was an empowering yet precarious time for Black Americans. The efforts of civil rights activists and countless protesters of all races brought about legislation to end segregation, Black voter suppression and discriminatory employment and housing practices.
Despite Supreme Court decisions such as Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) and Jones v. Mayer Co. (1968), which outlawed the exclusion of African Americans or other minorities from certain sections
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Forum and the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing lobbied for new fair housing legislation to be passed.
The proposed civil rights legislation of 1968 expanded and was intended as a follow-up to the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. The bill’s original goal was to extend federal protection to civil rights workers, but it was eventually expanded to address racial discrimination in housing.
Title VIII of the proposed Civil Rights Act was known as the Fair Housing Act, a term often used as a shorthand description for the entire bill. It prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, and sex.
Congressional Debate
In the U.S. Senate debate over the proposed legislation, Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts—the first African American ever to be elected to the Senate by popular vote—spoke personally of his return from World War II and his inability to provide a home of his choice for his new family because of his
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On April 4—the day of the Senate vote—the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone to aid striking sanitation workers. Amid a wave of emotion—including riots, burning, and looting in more than 100 cities around the country President Lyndon B. Johnson increased pressure on Congress to pass the new civil rights legislation.
Since the summer of 1966, when King participated in marches in Chicago calling for open housing in that city, he was associated with the fight for fair housing. Johnson argued that the bill would be a fitting testament to the man and his legacy, and he wanted it passed prior to King’s funeral in Atlanta.
After a limited debate, the House passed the Fair Housing Act on April 10, and President Johnson signed it into law the following day.
Did you know? A major force behind passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 was the NAACP’s Washington director, Clarence Mitchell Jr., who proved so effective in pushing through legislation aiding Black people that he was referred to as the “101st
This act strictly “outlawed racial discrimination in transportation, public accommodations, and juries.” However, in the South this law was not enforced and segregation remained. There was an Equal Rights Association led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton that influenced the actions of the
This allowed for Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first bill towards this issue since the reconstruction era. o Inspired to continue in Kennedy’s footsteps, Johnson focused on improving many domestic issues that were occurring
Correspondingly, the 1968 Fair Housing Act, made racially defined violence a federal crime. The goal of this act was to provide equal housing opportunities to African-Americans and
The Fair Housing Act is part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (“Fair”). This law gave African Americans the ability to not be denied a sale, rental, financing, or advertising of housing because of the color of their skin (“Fair”). The undeniably successful Civil Rights Movement led to the creation of this law. The Senate and House went back and forth on whether to pass the law or not but after Dr. King was assassinated the bill was passed to honor his work (“Fair”). This law is a great example of the success of the
The civil rights act of 1954 and the voting rights act of 1957 were both government legislation that gave more protection to Black voting rights, and the started to break down the tricky Jim Crow laws. The made sure that it was illegal to restrict a citizen from voting and created a committee to watch over the state voting records to make sure that nothing fishy was going on. With the voting situation more or less delt with, Influential leaders and groups aimed towards segregation. MLK's March on Washington and Malcolm X's threat to use violence to make change eventually pressured the government to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This legislation outlawed segregation, ensured equal employment for all, and outlawed literacy tests.
When President John F Kennedy was assassinated, the following President, Lyndon B Johnson took the case of the Civil Rights act into his own hands,“Let this session of Congress be known as the session which did more for Civil Rights than the last hundred sessions combined,” Johnson said during his first state of union address on the issue. The Senate voted 73-27 on the bill, and despite the strong opposition from southern members, the Civil Rights Legislation was passed into law. The Civil Rights Act stated that “all persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.” The act also prohibited race, religion, and gender discrimination by employers and created an Equal Employment Opportunity Commision. The Civil Rights Act was a very important consequence because it lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which banned discriminatory voting practices, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination in the sale and financing of
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an act that denied people the permission to commit hate crimes and discriminate against people of different color, race, religion, and gender. Although the Civil Rights act of 1964 had many titles, its main goal was to end the discrimination.
Introduction The civil rights movement in the mid-1900s was the fight to end racial segregation in the United States. This means equal or fair access and opportunities to have the quality of life guaranteed for all United States citizens. The long, hot summer of 1967 was “the high point in racial strife in postwar American cities”. Communities within cities across the country became restless with the lack of change necessary to better everyone.
This was the final step in ending segregation in public accommodations; finally, not only were the schools free to the black community but theatres, restaurants, and hotels as well. Due to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the lives of black Americans and other minority groups were substantially improved. Not only did this law help Black Americans gain the freedom to go to school, eat where they wanted, and so on; but also the Civil Rights Act and EEOC had components that were profoundly influential for the upcoming women's rights movement. Specifically, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, or sex was the most noteworthy in aiding the fight for women’s rights.
Five years later, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 came along in an attempt to crush racial discrimination in public places. The hopes of finally having that equality were quickly pummeled,
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 One year later, in 1964, Congress enacted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, aimed to prohibit discriminations based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It is worth noticing that this law further explains that sex discriminations
As the author highlights, “The first paragraph of the act states as its purpose "To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and for other purposes. " To explain, how the act shows equality with the nation striving to secure equal rights and opportunities for all its citizens and the act provisions directly confronted the entrenched systemic discrimination prevalent at the time challenging the status quo and shaping the trajectory of civil rights in America. The writer accentuates, “The bill prohibited racial discrimination in public and outlawed discrimination in places of employment. To this end, the act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate complaints of discrimination. The act ended the piecemeal strategy of integration by ending Jim Crow once and for all.”
In this paper, I will focus on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I will provide the history, the important people involved in the establishment of the Civil Rights Act, the events that led to the act, and the reactions from the people, mostly Southerners, after the act was established. In the year of 1963, Blacks were experiencing high racial injustice and widespread violence was inflicted upon them. The outcry of the harsh treatments inflicted upon them caused Kennedy to propose the Civil Rights Act.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is hailed by many as one of the most important legislations in the American history. The act was passed into law 52 years ago under a lot of pressure and resistance from white senators and African American activists. The act, which was largely known as the “Bill of the century” was aimed at bringing equality for blacks and whites and end racial prejudice. The act was targeted to revolutionize America where blacks and whites would eat together in the same hotels and enjoy similar rights in public places without any discrimination.
Public Policy on Housing Discrimination Executive Summary Housing discrimination and segregation have long been present in the American society (Lamb and Wilk). The ideals of public housing and home buying have always been intertwined with the social and political transformation of America, especially in terms of segregation and inequality of capital and race (Wyly, Ponder and Nettking). Nevertheless, the recent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and in Baltimore due to alleged police misconduct resulting to deaths of black men brought light on the impoverished conditions in urban counties in America (Lemons). This brings questions to the effectiveness of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in devising more fair-housing facilities (Jost).