MLK Day 2024: A History of Civil Rights Legislation in America

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- the most significant civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It prohibited the segregationist policies of the Jim Crow era that relegated Black Americans to separate schools, restaurants, restrooms, and drinking fountains.

While the 1964 bill rightfully receives significant recognition for its role in the advancement of civil rights, it's just one of many notable civil rights bills enacted by Congress. Here's a look back at some of the major civil rights bills.

Significant Historical Civil Rights Legislation 

The initial movement on civil rights legislation occurred while the Civil War was still ongoing. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, which changed the legal status of those enslaved in secessionist Confederate states to free persons. While it ultimately took the Union's victory in the Civil War to bring it into effect throughout the former Confederacy, all those who escaped slavery in the South before the war's conclusion were considered free. Lincoln recognized the limits of his executive action in terms of guaranteeing the post-war status of freed slaves and turned to his Republican majorities in Congress to enact constitutional and legislative changes in the final years of the Civil War. This led to the enactment of what became known as the Reconstruction Amendments ― the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and indentured servitude except in cases of criminal punishment, was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of the states on Dec. 6, 1865, and was formally adopted on Dec. 18, 1865 ― a little more than eight months after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. By the time the 13th Amendment became the law of the land, Congress had already moved on to a new civil rights bill aimed at defining citizenship and affirming the equal protection of all citizens under the law. It sought to counteract the Black Codes adopted in the former Confederate states, which restricted the movement of Black people, barred their ownership of firearms, restricted their access to court, and forced them into labor contracts. After President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill twice, congressional Republicans overrode his veto, and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 became law.

However, some in Congress argued that the legislative branch didn't have the constitutional power to enforce the new civil rights law, so they moved to enact the 14th Amendment, which ultimately guaranteed equal protection under the law, ensured the right to due process, and defined citizenship. Its ratification process was more lengthy than its predecessor, and Congress passed a series of bills known as the Reconstruction Acts, which imposed requirements on former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union. One such stipulation was the ratification of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified on Jul. 9, 1868.

The 15th Amendment, which prohibits the federal government and the states from denying the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," was the third and final of the Reconstruction Amendments. The ratification of the 15th Amendment was completed on Feb. 3, 1870, which led then-President Ulysses S. Grant to say it "completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came to life."

Only a few weeks passed after the 15th Amendment's ratification before the election of the first Black American to Congress, Sen. Hiram Rhodes Revels (R-Miss.), a Civil War veteran who argued for compromise, moderation, and racial equality. Later that year, he was joined by the first Black man elected to the House of Representatives, Rep. Joseph Rainey (R-SC). After the 1870 midterm election, Rainey was joined by five more Black Republican lawmakers who all represented districts in the South. 

Despite the enactment of the Reconstruction Amendments and some electoral successes for Black people, Rainey and other congressional Republicans pushed for the enactment of what became the Enforcement Acts to ensure the newly established rights were being sufficiently protected. The emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, one of the groups terrorizing Black people and abridging their voting rights, led to the enactment of three Enforcement Acts that Congress passed and President Grant signed into law, which did the following:

• The Enforcement Act of 1870 barred state officials from discrimination in voter registration on grounds prohibited by the 15th Amendment, established penalties for violations, and gave federal courts enforcement power. 
• The Second Force Act allowed for federal oversight of local and state elections if at least two citizens in a town of more than 20,000 desired it. 
• The Third Force Act (aka the Ku Klux Klan Act) imposed federal liability on state officials for depriving citizens of their civil rights or equal protection under the law. It also made some of the KKK's tactics federal offenses.

Grant made extensive use of the Enforcement Acts to use the military to keep the peace in the South, and by 1872, so many KKK members were put in jail that the Klan was essentially broken as an organization. Grant and Republicans in Congress enacted another law, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which sought to provide for equal treatment in public accommodations and prohibit exclusion from jury service. The law was partially struck down in 1883 by the Supreme Court and was the last law enacted during Reconstruction.

After Grant left office following his second term, and was succeeded by Republican Rutherford Hayes, Reconstruction came to an inauspicious end, as Democrats gained control of Southern legislatures through fraud and intimidation, and promptly implemented Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise Black voters and segregate society.

Action on civil rights legislation in Congress stalled for decades amid Jim Crow, until the administration of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower. After the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education found racially segregated public schools to be unconstitutional, Eisenhower wanted to signal his administration's support for integration efforts amid staunch and often violent opposition by segregationists in the South. The aim of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was to protect the voting rights of Black Americans, who were being disenfranchised by discriminatory voter registration rules like poll taxes and literacy tests enacted by southern Democrats to the extent that only about 20% of Black people were registered to vote. The bill, which was the first civil rights law enacted since Reconstruction, did the following:

• Created the Civil Rights Division within the Justice Department and allowed federal prosecutors to seek injunctions and press charges for contempt of court in cases of voter intimidation or coercion.
• Allowed federal judges to hear civil rights cases with or without juries and to ignore state jury selection laws, as Black people were often excluded from jury service.
• Created a six-member Civil Rights Commission in the executive branch to gather information on the deprivation of citizens' voting rights because of their color, race, religion, or national origin directly from disenfranchised citizens

Eisenhower signed the bill on Sept. 9, 1957, and later that month he federalized the Arkansas National Guard and deployed the 101st Airborne Division using the Insurrection Act to ensure the protection and integration of nine Black students into Little Rock Central High School. Eisenhower successfully lobbied Congress to a pass a new bill ― the Civil Rights Act of 1960 ― which required local authorities to maintain comprehensive voting records, imposed penalties for obstructing voter registration, and extended the life of the Civil Rights Commission (which is still in operation). 

Eisenhower's successor, Democratic President John F. Kennedy, proposed another broad civil rights bill aimed at protecting voting rights and equal access to public accommodations in June 1963 and met with organizers of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom later that summer to discuss the bill. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, lobbied Congress to pass the bill alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and civil rights groups. 

The final version of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public accommodations, facilities, and schools; outlawed discrimination in federally funded projects; created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to monitor employment discrimination; and provided powers to enforce voting rights. LBJ signed into law on Jul. 2, 1964.

The next year, LBJ and Congress moved to pass legislation to enforce voting rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments. LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law with MLK, Rosa Parks, John Lewis, and other civil rights leaders in attendance.

Congress and LBJ went on to pass another Civil Rights Act in 1968, which created federal hate crime laws, banned discrimination in housing through provisions known as the Fair Housing Act, criminalized interstate travel with the intent to engage in riots, and ensured that civil rights protections extended to jurisdictions governed by American Indian tribes. The bill's enactment came against the backdrop of riots across the country following MLK's assassination, which prompted LBJ to invoke the Insurrection Act.

The civil rights laws enacted in the 20th century helped to uphold the goals of the Reconstruction Amendments and the original civil rights bills enacted in the aftermath of the Civil War. Today, there is still much work to be done to achieve racial equality and equity in America. 

How do you feel about the current state of civil rights in America?

—Eric Revell, Josh Herman, and Jamie Epstein

(Photo Credit: White House Press Office / Public Domain)