Essay On The Civil Rights Act Of 1964

Congressional approval and results of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Introduction

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is today viewed as one of the most important pieces of legislation in the fight for civil rights in the United States. This paper deals with the complicated process of the Congressional approval and also with the content of this law. Also mentioned is some critical view of the final form of the Civil Rights Act. It shows, why another law was needed, why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was approved. In the conclusion I would like to briefly state my personal opinion on this legislation after conducting this research.

At the start of the 1960’s the United States was a country, in which the voices for civil rights and desegregation were

However, in the 1960’s were the critical opinions quite widespread. They originated in the ranks of segregationists as well as among the civil rights activists. People, who disagreed with this law argued, that it violates the Constitution of the United States and it is against American values. According to them, everyone has the right to decide with whom they want to work, eat, and so on. Sometimes even people who didn’t support segregation rejected the intrusion of the federal government into the private businesses. On the other hand, the civil rights activists were supporting the legislation, but some of them criticized the law as not strong enough. For example Bayard Rustin in his commentary “From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement.” The activist criticized especially the first title about voting rights. It didn’t outlaw the usage of different tools to disenfranchise Blacks, e.g. literacy tests. That is the reason, why the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was

The passage of this bill was not easy. First, President Kennedy, who sent this bill into the House of Representatives, was assassinated, and then some of the politicians tried several times to kill this bill and even caused the longest filibuster in the Senate’s history. Even though this Civil Rights Act isn’t controversial today, it was at the time it was passed. Even though I agree that it was important legislation, I can understand the arguments of the critics. I can see that the law to a certain extent infringes the right of businessmen to decide, what is for them best. However, in my mind some sacrifices of the individual rights are needed so that the society could move forward. Also the critics from the ranks of the civil rights activists were right. I can’t judge their attitude, because I look at the legislation and I know, what happened after. And I know that only one year after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was approved by the Congress and signed by president. I agree that Title I about the voting rights was really weak. However, when I look at the process in the Congress, I don’t think that stronger bill would have had any chance to succeed at that