The
Civil Rights Act, according to it's titles, outlawed discrimination in
hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public
accommodations engaged in interstate commerce. The Act prohibited state
and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on
grounds of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity.
The Civil
Rights Act discouraged segregation in schools and discouraged
discrimination based on race, religion or gender regarding federally
funded government agencies or programs that receive Federal financial
assistance.
The Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B.
Johnson, on July 2, 1964. Civil rights reform began when the Supreme
Court found that segregation in schools was unconstitutional, in the
case of Brown versus the Board of Education.
Martin Luther King Jr.
was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement calling for equality and
justice for minorities, in major rallies and speeches across the country
and throughout this time period.
President John F. Kennedy
made civil rights reform an objective for his Presidential bid and
Presidency, but after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, it was President Lyndon B. Johnson who carried through with Kennedy's Civil Rights reforms and signed into law, The Civil Rights Act in 1964.
