Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed after decades of legal and grassroots advocacy, is viewed as a landmark in the struggle for civil rights in the United States. The intent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to enforce the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, to ensure the constitutional right to vote, and to prohibit racial segregation in public accommodations and educational institutions. In addition to prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of race, the act also makes it illegal to segregate on the basis of color, religion, and national origin. Further, the law makes it illegal for private employers to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, and sex. According to most commentators, the prohibition against sex ...