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Civil Rights Dbq

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an important act that was passed. It is the nation's premier civil rights legislation. Even though there were three amendments having to do with ending slavery, people still treated minorities unfairly until the act was passed. The federal government had to do something because of all of the conflict that was happening. It deeply affected American society. The bill was passed when Johnson was the President. It was signed on July 2nd. Kennedy also tried passing something similar, but he died before he was able to. Johnson was able to get it passed because he worked with both parties beforehand, so he had support from both sides. He also got it passed because he reminded people that this is what Kennedy would …show more content…

At the voting booths, there were still literacy tests which prevented many African Americans from voting. It did not stop the violence shown by southerners to stop blacks from voting. There was still some violence over segregation because customs take time to change. Even when there was no more integration, the black store owners had a hard time making money because more people went to white owned stores. Most people did not like that the schools were integrated. A lot of white parents pulled their children out of integrated schools. Even though jobs had to be integrated, many store owners said that they just couldn’t find any qualified blacks instead of hiring them (http://www.crmvet.org). Some owners just hired as few blacks as they could so they would not get in trouble. Most labor unions would not allow African Americans to …show more content…

It was the most important civil rights act since the Civil War- including the act to add a civil rights division of the Justice Department. It showed that the government does respond in times of trouble (http://www.u-s-history.com). It was the first act that had to do with all Americans. It gave hope to all of the people who were discriminated against. Without it, we would not have an African American president today. It helped gain equality for other people like women and gays. Gay people are not allowed to be discriminated against in their jobs. If they want to go to the army, the military cannot ask them about their sexual orientation. Gay marriage has because legal in a lot of states and is continuing to grow. People gained the courage they needed to fight for these rights. In later years, other acts were passed that helped women and disabled people. Women were not allowed to be discriminated against. If they were fired because they were pregnant, they would now be able to fight back. Because of an amendment to the Civil Rights Act, institutions were not allowed to get funding if they discriminated against women. Also, schools had to have equal sports programs for men and women (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/american-government/civil-rights/civil-rights-for-minorities-and-women). The Civil Rights act is now applied to disabled people under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Some people did not like this

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