Title VII

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Long title	An act to enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States of America to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 88th United States Congress
Effective	July 2, 1964
Citations
Public law	88-352
Statutes at Large	78 Stat. 241
Codification
Acts amended	Civil Rights Act of 1957, Civil Rights Act of 1960
Titles amended	42
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 7152 by Emanuel Celler (D–NY) on June 20, 1963 Committee consideration by Judiciary Passed the House on February 10, 1964 (290–130) Passed the Senate on June 19, 1964 (73–27) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on July 2, 1964 (289–126) Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964
Major amendments
Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972,Civil Rights Act of 1991
United States Supreme Court cases
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States Katzenbach v. McClung Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education Griggs v. Duke Power Co. Ricci v. DeStefano

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pub.L. 88–352, 78 Stat. 241, enacted July 2, 1964) is a landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public (known as "public accommodations").

Powers given to enforce the act were initially weak, but were supplemented during later years. Congress asserted its authority to legislate under several different parts of the United States Constitution, principally its power to regulate interstate commerce under Article One (section 8), its duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment and its duty to protect voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment. The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964, at the White House.

The bill was called for by President John F. Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11, 1963, in which he asked for legislation "giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public—hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments", as well as "greater protection for the right to vote". Kennedy delivered this speech following a series of protests from the African-American community, the most famous being the Birmingham campaign (including the "Children's Crusade") in which students and children endured attacks by police dogs and high pressure fire hoses during their protests against segregation. Kennedy was moved to action following the elevated racial tensions and wave of black riots in the spring 1963.

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