8 Steps That Paved the Way to the Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was landmark legislation that required decades of actionsâand setbacksâto achieve.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was landmark legislation that required decades of actionsâand setbacksâto achieve.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. When it was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964, it was a major victory for the civil rights movement in its battle against unjust Jim Crow laws that marginalized Black Americans. It took years of activism, courage, and the leadership of Civil Rights icons from Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Little Rock Nine to bring the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to fruition. These are eight key steps that ultimately led to the Act’s adoption.
media focused on rita schwerner, the telegenic wife of missing activist michael schwerner. the people in this country have had enough. they went all over rita. and rita was about 5 2, and she weighed about 85 pounds. they went up to her, and they said, mrs. schwerner, how do you feel? and rita wouldn t play. she said, you would not even be interviewing me if my husband was black. and it was true, it was true. mrs. chaney, the wife of one of the missing white men has said that the only reason this case has attracted national attention is because there are two white northerners involved. do you believe that? well, that s what i feel too because if he was by himself, i doubt that we would have ever known anything. reporter: the bodies of goodman, schwerner and chaney
enter mississippi. reporter: however, soon after arriving in mississippi, three volunteers, two white, one black, left the group to investigate a church burning. schwerner, chaney, and goodman, two white jewish kids and a black kid from mississippi did not come back by the appointed check time. three civil rights workers that disappeared in mississippi still have not been heard from. people are calling reporters, saying they re missing civil rights workers in mississippi. that was one of the reasons that allowed for this real convergence of press interests that went right up into the white house. mrs. schwerner, i have talked to the governor there and he is making all the facilities in the state available in the search. it became the dominant story of the summer. did mr. schwerner ever tell you in his own words why he came down here? he wanted to find what he could do about an intolerable situation. reporter: very quickly, the
investigate a church burning. schwerner, chaney, and goodman, two white jewish kids and a black kid from mississippi did not come back by the appointed check time. three civil rights workers that disappeared in mississippi still have not been heard from. people are calling reporters, saying they re missing civil rights workers in mississippi. that was one of the reasons that allowed for this real convergence of press interests that went right up into the white house. mrs. schwerner, i have talked to the governor there and he is making all the facilities in the state available in the search. it became the dominant story of the summer. did mr. schwerner ever tell you in his own words why he came down here? he wanted to findhahe could do about an intolerable situation. reporter: very quickly, the media focused on rita schwerner, the telegenic wife of missing activist michael schwerner. the people in this country have had enough. they went all over rita.
and rita was about 5 2 , and she weighed about 85 pounds. they went up to her, and they said, mrs. schwerner, how do you feel? and rita wouldn t play. she said, you would not even be interviewing me if my husband was black. and it was true, it was true. mrs. chaney, the wife of one of the missing white men has said that the only reason this case has attracted national attention is because there are two white northerners involved. do you believe that? well, that s what i feel too because if he was by himself, i doubt that we would have ever known anything. reporter: the bodies of goodman, schwerner and chaney were found in an earthen dam 44 days after their disappearance. the question facing everybody