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Brief History Of The Fair Housing Act Of 1968

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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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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