Part 5: Civil Rights Movement, Part II
In this series, Racism in America, I aim to discuss the history of the United States with a focus on the topic of racism, both systemic and individual racism. Through this series, I hope to play a part in fighting the issue of racism that still persists in our society today. This series was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protest movement.
Last time in this series, we discussed the Civil Rights Movement up until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today, we will look at all the events of the Civil Rights Movement after the act was passed, and discuss some implications of how the movement reshaped the issue of race in the United States.
As previously discussed, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a major turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. It had far-reaching implications of American society as a whole and still continues to affect us to this very day. For example, just recently, the Supreme Court ruled, in Bostock v. Clayton County, that this act also protected LGBTQ individuals. It also reshaped American politics as a whole, resulting in a huge transformation of the political landscape. The Democratic Party, once a conservative, white-supremacist party, was now the liberal, progressive party. It marked the South becoming a stronghold for the now-conservative Republican Party. This is despite the act passing by a large majority in both parties (there were both Democrats and Republicans that voted against the bill, especially those from the South).
The act was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in the 1964 ruling of Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, where an owner of a motel in Atlanta said he should not be forced to serve black customers, and even claimed the act violated the Fifth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The Supreme Court ruled against him, citing the Commerce Clause, thus declaring the act constitutional.
In addition, at the time, famous activist Malcolm X joined the Civil Rights Movement. He later became a well-known symbol of the fight against systemic racism in the U.S.
It is important to note, though, at this point in history, the Civil Rights Act did not “give” people of color the right to vote. This resulted in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964, in which black Americans of Mississippi formed a coalition to try and run against the Democratic Party.
Other voting rights movements had been organized across the South as well, ultimately leading to President Lyndon B. Johnson passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in Congress, becoming law on August 6. The act got rid of literacy and other tests that were designed to stop black Americans from being “eligible” to vote. The act gave way to more than 250,000 new black voters registering. In 1965, Mississippi saw a record 74 percent African-American voter turnout. This changed the political landscape especially in the South, where more than 4,800 Black Americans took office in the South alone, up from none before the act.
Those whites opposing the act saw them being voted out of office. In Alabama, voters voted out Sheriff Jim Clark of Selma County, Alabama, famous for using violence against activists. Most counties with majority black populations voted in black sheriffs.
In 1967, riots broke out in over 100 cities nationwide. Many blacks in the automobile industry complained of persisting racist practices, resulting in them not being able to be promoted. Without the opportunity for promotion, it essentially confined poor blacks in neighborhoods like Watts, Los Angeles, and Harlem, New York. The rioting was particularly bad in Detroit. 43 people died in the rioting with over $40 million in property damages being caused. Ultimately, though, the riots were generally successful. In Michigan, the legislature enacted legislation for fair housing and increased minority hiring.
While a fair housing bill was being hotly debated in Congress during this time, constant filibusters had prevented the bill from passing. In April 1968, however, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, resulting in 110 cities breaking out in riots. King’s funeral attracted 42,000 participants, and armed national guard members sat in tanks to protect the marchers. Another 150,000 people marched under the leadership of Mrs. King in Atlanta.
This resulted in the fair housing bill passing through Congress rather quickly, and on April 11, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 into law. The law banned discrimination regarding the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, and national origin. It also made interfering, threatening force, injuring, or intimidating a person based on their race, color, religion, or national origin a federal crime.
It is generally accepted that the Civil Rights Act of 1968 marks the end of the Civil Rights Era. Its legacy, however, still lives on today. It dramatically changed Americans’ views toward issues concerning race and resulted in reduced resentment against blacks in places where large protests had occurred. It also paved the way for proposals like affirmative action, which still lives on in many areas today.
This period in time marks the largest shift in favor toward African Americans throughout American history. I am also planning to make a post in the U.S. History series about other aspects of the Civil Rights Era (when we get to it, of course), as well as briefly discussing racism toward Asian, Latino, and Native Americans.