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Civil Rights Act Of 1964: Gender Discrimination In The United States

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Following the Civil War (1861-1865), a trio of constitutional amendments abolished slavery, making the former slaves citizens and gave all men the right to vote regardless of race. Nonetheless, many states particularly in the South, used poll taxes, literacy tests and other similar measures to keep their Black neighbors practically broke. They also enforced strict segregation through “Jim Crow” laws and condoned violence from white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. First proposed by President John F. Kennedy, it survived strong opposition from southern members of Congress and was then signed into law by Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. In following years, Congress expanded the act and also passed additional legislation aimed at bringing equality to Blacks, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
For decades after Reconstruction (1865-1877), …show more content…

No longer could blacks and other minorities be denied service simply based on the color of their skin. The act also barred race, religious, national origin and gender discrimination by employers and labor unions, and created an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with the power to file lawsuits on behalf of aggrieved workers. Additionally, the act forbade the use of federal funds for any discriminatory program, authorized the Office of Education (now the Department of Education) to assist with school desegregation, gave extra clout to the Commission on Civil Rights and prohibited the unequal application of voting requirements. For famed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., it was nothing less than a “second

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