The US Civil Rights Act Was Signed Into Law
On this day · 2 July 1964
After a 72-day Senate filibuster, one signature outlawed segregation across American public life in a single afternoon.
On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, just hours after the House gave final approval. It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation the country had seen since Reconstruction.
The law prohibited discrimination in public places, banned segregation in hotels, restaurants, theaters, and stores, and forced the integration of schools and other public facilities. Crucially, it also made employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin illegal.
Passage was not easy: the bill survived a 72-day filibuster in the Senate before clearing the chamber.
Johnson signed the act in a televised ceremony at the White House, using dozens of pens that he handed out as keepsakes. The legislation reshaped daily American life and laid the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Sources & references
2 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.
