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Civil Rights Act of 1964 importance
Lyndon b Johnson
Civil Rights Act of 1964 importance
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How could one man’s decision to sign a piece of paper shock all of America? In the summer of 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson did just that. He signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, changing the lives of every colored person (and woman) in the United States. Today, if one did not know the past actions of LBJ, that person would consequently be rather confused as to why exactly would that choice be so stupifying? Now if someone did study up on America’s 36th president, they would know that before his presidency, Lyndon Baines Johnson was a very different person. Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in 1908 on a farm, deep in the heart of Central Texas and in the South and like most Southerners, opposed integration laws. In fact, LBJ opposed them so strongly,
The summer of 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson finally decided to sign the Civil Rights Act. This bill permitted people of all races and skin tones to be free from segregation. It promised the extension on voting rights, stronger equal employment opportunities, and guaranteed all Americans the right to use public facilities such as schools, restaurants and swimming pools (Politics or Principle 405). Many Americans questioned if the true decision behind President Johnson signing the civil rights act of 1964 was political or principle. I strongly believe Johnson signed it in a principle matter due to seeing different perspectives in living with prejudice, he would do anything to get the bill signed and he was finally free from the South's persuasive bonds.
Exploring Why Martin Luther King Was Both Bitterly Criticised and Deeply Mourned by Black Citizens of the USA
Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws That Changed America.
When the Government Stood Up For Civil Rights "All my life I've been sick and tired, and now I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired. No one can honestly say Negroes are satisfied. We've only been patient, but how much more patience can we have?" Mrs. Hamer said these words in 1964, a month and a day before the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. She speaks for the mood of a race, a race that for centuries has built the nation of America, literally, with blood, sweat, and passive acceptance. She speaks for black Americans who have been second class citizens in their own home too long. She speaks for the race that would be patient no longer that would be accepting no more. Mrs. Hamer speaks for the African Americans who stood up in the 1950's and refused to sit down. They were the people who led the greatest movement in modern American history - the civil rights movement. It was a movement that would be more than a fragment of history, it was a movement that would become a measure of our lives (Shipler 12). When Martin Luther King Jr. stirred up the conscience of a nation, he gave voice to a long lain dormant morality in America, a voice that the government could no longer ignore. The government finally answered on July 2nd with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is historically significant because it stands as a defining piece of civil rights legislation, being the first time the national government had declared equality for blacks. The civil rights movement was a campaign led by a number of organizations, supported by many individuals, to end discrimination and achieve equality for American Blacks (Mooney 776). The forefront of the struggle came during the 1950's and the 1960's when the feeling of oppression intensified and efforts increased to gain access to public accommodations, increased voting rights, and better educational opportunities (Mooney). Civil rights in America began with the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution, which ended slavery and freed blacks in theory. The Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 were passed, guaranteeing the rights of blacks in the courts and access to public accommodation. These were, however, declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, who decided that the fourteenth did not protect blacks from violation of civil rights, by individuals.
On June 11, 1963, John F. Kennedy made history when he pleaded for support on live television. While a majority of the American people were shocked by his plea, many Americans saw the broadcast as a spark igniting a change in the way African American’s were treated. That evening, John F. Kennedy asked the American people for their support of his Civil Rights Bill. The bill, one of the examples in which Kennedy responded to the Civil Rights Movement, would bring an end to segregation in public places, among other Jim Crow laws. However, much of his response involved the national outlook on the events that took place in the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. During his campaign he had promised to lead the country down the right path with the civil rights movement. This campaign promise had brought hope to many African-Americans throughout the nation. Ever since Lincoln, African-Americans have tended to side with the democrats and this election was no different. The Kennedy administration had noticed that the key to the presidency was partially the civil rights issue. While many citizens were on Kennedy’s side, he had his share of opposition. Malcolm X differed on the view of the President and observed that the civil rights movement wasn’t happening at the speed Kennedy had pledged. Malcolm X possessed other reasons for his dislike of John F. Kennedy and his brothers, especially Robert. The Kennedy government stood for racial liberalism and Malcolm X argued their true intentions for the civil rights movement weren’t in the best interest of the black population. This tension streamed both ways. John Kennedy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation felt that Malcolm X had become a threat to national security. James Baldwin has written essays that have included the repeated attacks on the white liberal and supports Malcolm in many of his theories and actions.
Lyndon B. Johnson’s main focus was bringing the citizens of the United States together and molding a precedent of equality. Without said precedent, America would not be the safe haven for freedom it is today. LBJ rallies Americans together when he calls for them, “I ask you to join me in working long hours, nights and weekends if necessary-to pass this bill.” Because of the strength the bill requires behind it, the president desperately needed the American people’s support. Without the people, it would have been impossible to pass, let alone enforce this new law. Spearheading the Civil Rights Act alone wouldn’t have worked because “the fact is that the only way to pass these barriers [unnecessary stipulations imposed so that blacks couldn’t vote] is to show a white skin.” African Americans were required to go through extreme conditions just to be allowed the chance to vote, and often they failed. Lyndon B. Johnson changed America for the better, and that is because of speeches such as “The American
Martin Luther King was an inspirational figure in his time because he helped begin the civil rights movement through his courage and bravery. Martin was an African American born in a time where race was the major factor for weather you were treated with respect or treated very poorly and treated as if you were slaves His story begins when he was an executive member in the NAACP but his fight for equality in the American South happened out of sheer luck. Martin was picked to host a meeting to support an African American woman named Rosa Parks, she had been arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white person on a bus. Since King’s church was the closest church in the down town area his church was chosen.
On July 2, 1964, president Lyndon Baines Johnson signed a civil-rights bill that forbade discrimination in voting, education, employment and other areas of American life. As a U.S senator, he has helped weaken such bills because he felt it was the job of the state to decide. L.B.J suddenly changed his mind and decided to sign the bill that would change many people’s lives. Was this what L.B.J actually believed in or was it all out of politics. L.B.J’s decision to sing the civil rights act of 1964 was based off of principal.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great civil rights leader who gave his life in the name of freedom. The work of Martin Luther King, Jr. goes further than establishing peaceful social change strategies, he shaped America into the free country it is today. Before his protests in the south blacks, were treated like second rate citizens. It was uncommon to see blacks and whites using the same public restroom, or drinking from the same water fountain. Dr. King created a legacy that carried on far beyond his death. He had a dream that blacks and whites could live together in peace, free of segregation.
A year after Abraham Lincoln emancipated the African American slaves, America was working on restoring the country as one. Lincoln set forth a Proclamation of Amnesty and established Freedman’s Bureau to help feed, clothe, and provide supplies for those who were war refugees. It also worked helped formerly enslaved people to find work. Although the Freedman’s Bureau’s efforts aided those who served in the war and the freed slaves, it was not enough. After Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson began to implement a program that resembled Lincoln’s restoration plans. In March 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and it was the first time Congress overrode a presidential veto. It became the 14th Amendment and declared that all
The life and presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson could never be summed up in a word, a phrase or a sentence. Even hundreds of pages seem too few to capture the years of Johnson. Both books present Johnson as a political figure as powerful and memorable as Lincoln or FDR, each trying to show a complete picture of this huge man. History books will forever be puzzled by this enigma of a man, just as readers and students are. The biggest struggle is determining how one feels about the actions and effects of Johnson. Many presidents can be seen as almost completely "good" or "bad" depending on one's political ideology and opinions, however, when one looks at Johnson, it is easier, almost inevitable, to find nuances and contradictions which make forming straightforward and binary opinions difficult, if not impossible. Accomplishments are followed by nagging failures and triumphs are shadowed by relentless criticism. These two books (Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin and A Life: LBJ by Irwin and Debi Unger) try to present a story of a figure that was larger-than-life, yet just a regular man underneath. Both books tell the story, but leave it up to the reader to decide how to feel, to decide if the good outweighs the bad and vice versa. They have to decide what to make of this man who, in his life, ranged from a confident young senator, a triumphant president, a defeated, tired leader, to ultimately just an old man hoping his story will live on.
African Americans had been struggling to obtain equal rights for scores of decades. During the 1960’s, the civil rights movement intensified and the civil rights leaders entreated President Kennedy to intervene. They knew it would take extreme legislature to get results of any merit. Kennedy was afraid to move forward in the civil rights battle, so a young preacher named Martin Luther King began a campaign of nonviolent marches and sit-ins and pray-ins in Birmingham, Alabama to try and force a crisis that the President would have to acknowledge. Eventually things became heated and Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor released his men to attack the protesters, which included many schoolchildren. All of this was captured and televised to the horror of the world. Finally this forced the President into action and he proposed a bill outlawing segregation in public facilities. The bill became bogged down in Congress but civil righ...
He told the citizens that he was concerned about everyone, no matter of race, gender, or religion. Throughout the speech, Lyndon Johnson reminded the nation that he wanted to solve the problem with the nation together. He sees the racial discrimination not only as injustice, but is also denying America and dishonoring the people who gave their lives for the freedom of America (Johnson 2). By doing this, he persuaded the people with emotions and wanted them to support his idea of the civil rights, which promised everyone the right to register to vote without having any problems. It had finally led to an end to the illegal barriers under the 15th Amendment and allowed African Americans to vote without any knowledge or character test.
...or southern blacks to vote. In 1967 the Supreme Court rules interracial marriage legal. In 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead at the age of thirty-nine. Also the civil rights act of 1968 is passed stopping discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. In 1988 President Reagan’s veto was overridden by congress passing the “Civil Rights Restoration Act” expanding the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds. In 1991 President Bush. signs the, “Civil Rights Act of 1991”, strengthening existing civil rights laws. In 2008 President Obama is elected as the first African American president. The American Civil Rights Movement has made a massive effect on our history and how our country is today. Without it things would be very different. In the end however, were all human beings regardless of our differences.