Civil Rights Act of 1964

Questions on this topic? Just ask!

Civil Rights Act of 1964

United States 1964

Synopsis

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the most significant piece of civil rights legislation since the Civil War, bans discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, and gender in the areas of public accommodation, federally funded programs, and employment. The act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce the employment provisions of the act.

Timeline

• 1944: Allies land at Normandy on 6 June, conducting the largest amphibious invasion in history.
• 1949: Soviets conduct their first successful atomic test. This heightens growing cold war tensions, not least because the sudden acquisition of nuclear capabilities suggests that American spies are passing secrets.
• 1954: The French military outpost at Dien Bien Phu falls to the communist Vietminh. France withdraws after decades of trying to suppress revolt; meanwhile, the United States pledges its support for the non-communist government in the south.
  
• 1959: Two new leaders appear on the scene in January as General Charles de Gaulle becomes the first president of France's Fifth Republic, and Fidel Castro takes control of Cuba after the collapse of the corrupt Batista regime.
• 1962: Publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring heightens Americans' awareness of environmental issues.
• 1964: On 7 February, in the midst of both a literal and figurative winter in America following Kennedy's assassination, the Beatles arrive at New York's newly renamed JFK Airport.

  This is a free page. This page contains 201 words. This article contains 3,563 words (approx. 12 pages at 300 words per page).

  Read the rest of this Article with our Civil Rights Act of 1964 Access Pass.