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The Lyndon B Johnson Civil Rights Act

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My topic is the Lyndon B Johnson Civil Rights Act. I choose this topic because civil rights continue to be a relevant topic years after President Johnson signed the bill. This topic is relevant to taking a stand in history because a lot of people did not agree with Lyndon B. Johnson when he signed the bill, but he was passionate about giving black people the same rights as white people. The civil rights bill was a project years in the making, and after John F. Kennedy’s term, LBJ continued the fight for civil rights. One year after the civil rights act there was a march of many black residents following Martin Luther King, Jr. across a bridge in Selma. When they got to the Edmund Pettus Bridge they were stopped by the police. The police …show more content…

For example, all black people were given the right to vote. However, this basic American right was still denied to many black Americans. At the poles, you either had to take a literacy test or pay a pole tax. A lot of the black people did not know how to read, so this was one way to stop them from voting. Another way they did this was by having a pole tax, a tax you had to pay to vote. Most of the black people did not have jobs, or had very low paying jobs. So, if you could not pay the tax you could not vote. Even if you did get to vote, a lot of people who voted got fired from their …show more content…

They had no right to vote and were openly discriminated against. Even after the bill they were still discriminated against. President Johnson worked to secure rights for all Americans before and after he became President of the United States. Once the bill was signed they were given more rights, but many states and local governments did not enforce them. Black Americans were abused, taunted and forced to use separate bathrooms, parks, and schools. In addition to civil rights, when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, he also gave all people Medicare . This helped everyone because now all people had health care. This made it to where they did not have to directly pay for it. Overall, President Lyndon B. Johnson was a fighter for all Americans and their right to be treated fairly by their government and their community. He took a stand for equal treatment for all black Americans. Equality that was given to them under the U.S.

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Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a civil-rights bill that prohibited discrimination in voting, education, employment, and other areas of American life. To understand why Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 one must understand his background. L.B.J. was born in Texas and his first career was a teacher. In 1937, Johnson won a Texas seat in the United States House of Representatives. In 1948, Johnson was elected to the Senate.

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On July 02, 1964 , Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibited against people discriminating against another because of their skin color , so everybody was treated equally. L.B.J he became president after John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963 and L.B.J took office the next day. He finished what J.F.K wanted and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Political means some did it for votes or for something and principle means the person did something because it was the right thing to do. Why did L.B.J sign it was, it a political decision or was it a principle decision?

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On July the 2nd 1964 Lyndon Johnson signs into law the historic Civil Rights Act in a nationally televised ceremony at the White House. Despite privately referring to African Americans as “niggers”. This was the act that made the biggest difference to the lives of black people in America. The Act outlawed racial discrimination and prejudice in employment. It also gave dark skin students the right to use any public services funded by the government, an example of this is schools.

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Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act for principle because he wanted to help those who couldn’t help themselves, do what is right at the risk of sacrifices, and the act was signed to o focus on further movement needed for the country. However, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was also signed by President Johnson for politics. The act was signed for politics because President Johnson wanted to please the citizens in the country. Like many people, President Johnson wanted to be approved and liked by the country. His want for approval led him to making efforts to please the country.

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Originally, African Americans had to be segregated and weren’t even allowed to vote. In 1965 after the Montgomery March, Lyndon B Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act, and later in 1968 both the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the Fourteenth Amendment were passed. The Fourteenth Amendmendment said that “all persons born of naturalized in the United States” could legally vote. These acts got rid of literacy tests, and in 1968, when Nixon became president (Document H), there was over two times the amount of African American voters than there was in 1960 (Document G). African Americans also gained large support from a president, John F. Kennedy, which wasn’t something anyone had expected looking back at how past presidents acted.

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Medicare was federally funded and gave American citizens low cost medical care that had Social Security. Another one of President Johnson’s successes was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. More work was still needed, but it was a step forward. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a United States Labor Law, which prohibits discrimination based on nationality, race, sex, or religion for employment.

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The 1960s era was quite the controversial time, debating between if segregation was the way to go or the complete opposite, integration. African Americans during this time were fighting for equality and acceptance in their communities. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 specifically outlaws any discrimination, this meaning :race, color, religion, sex, and etc. In a community, working together brings unity and equality in the environment. Malcolm X thought segregation was the path to follow, but separate doesn’t mean equal.

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The Jim Crow laws made it so that many black people became powerless as they couldn’t vote. They couldn’t vote because the lawmakers passed a law to make it so that people had to pay to vote. Because many black people at the time were poor many of them couldn’t pay this fee of voting and were left powerless when it came to political decisions. That is not the only way that the lawmakers made it so the blacks were powerless. They also made it so white and black people couldn’t be together in public so there had to be different railway cars, water fountains, stores, restaurants and pretty much their whole lives were apart.

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Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because of a political based decision because of the public opinion, the 1957 stumbling block, and because his questionable sincerity. The Civil Rights Act expanded the voting right, which allowed everyone to easily vote, strengthened equal employment opportunity, which gave everyone an equal shot at getting a job, and

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Johnson states in his address that when we deny equality and freedom to an American citizen, we are completely disregarding the equality and freedom that so many Americans had died for in the past. The United States Constitution is built on the principle that this country was born for the equal opportunity and advantages of all people. When I was reading President Johnson’s speech, a topic that came of interest to me was the Voting Rights Act that he was presenting in his speech. Johnson presented this bill to Congress in 1965, as a result of the Salma uproar, and on August 6, 1965, the bill was approved by Congress. This bill gave southern blacks the right to vote in poll taxes, literacy tests, and various other practices that were once denied to them.

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Once Johnson was no longer in charge congress put into place the Civil Rights Act, an act that declared everyone who was born in the United states to be granted a citizen no matter their race or previous conditions. This meant all former slaves could become true legal citizens. Similarly, the 14th amendment made it so that each state was to give equal protection of the laws to everyone because it too declared all citizens were equal. This amendment also would not allow for confederate political leaders to hold positions and it would not forgive any debts of the confederacy. Following the civil rights act and the 14th amendment the 15th amendment and then another civil rights act were also put into effect.

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The Civil Right Act of 1964 was a “piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin in public accommodations” (Beckman). The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was involved with, was instrumental in the passing of this act. President Lyndon B. Johnson, after Kings great march to Washington, was urge to protect the African-Americans citizens as if they were any other citizens of America. However, very few people know about the struggles that happened after the Civil Right Act of 1964; the desegregation that happened after the country thought equality had finally been reached. When a majority of people think about the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the remember

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is hailed by many as one of the most important legislations in the American history. The act was passed into law 52 years ago under a lot of pressure and resistance from white senators and African American activists. The act, which was largely known as the “Bill of the century” was aimed at bringing equality for blacks and whites and end racial prejudice. The act was targeted to revolutionize America where blacks and whites would eat together in the same hotels and enjoy similar rights in public places without any discrimination.

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the first global concord in human history stating “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” • Supreme Court reversed decision of Plessy v. Ferguson in the Brown v. Board of Education that separate is not equal • Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to white man on the bus and got arrested • In response Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech on behalf of Parks, “This situation is not at all new. The problem has existed over endless years. ”(MLK) • Henry Louis Gates Jr. remembers living in the segregated south and seeing the civil rights movement on tv • Older people

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