Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is one of the most well-known and far-reaching contemporary civil rights statutes enacted by Congress. The act's impact on colleges and universities has been immense in that it prohibits discrimination against students, employees, and prospective employees or applicants on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, and sex.

A decade after Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka (1954), and following on the heels of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, his successor Lyndon B. Johnson worked with a wide array of civic groups to ensure that civil rights for African Americans and other minority groups would be codified into American law. Following a 54-day filibuster in the Senate, Congress approved the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964. ...