Civil Rights Act

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.