Civil Rights Act of 1957

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The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was a civil rights law in the United States that focused on the right to vote. It was the first civil rights law passed by Congress after the end of the Reconstruction .

After the Supreme Court in 1954 in Brown v. When the Board of Education ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional, white southerners in Virginia announced that they would put up "massive resistance." Violence against black people increased there, as in other states. This is also the case in Arkansas , where US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had to send federal troops to the capital, Little Rock , to enable nine black students to attend a previously all-white school. Assaults on people suspected of actively supporting the civil rights movement and bombings on schools and churches in the south continued thereafter. This led the Eisenhower administration to introduce a new law to protect blacks' right to vote.

The Democratic Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina , a staunch advocate of racial segregation , held the longest filibuster in US history to avoid the law. His speech lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes. He began by reciting each state electoral law in alphabetical order. He later read the Declaration of Independence , the Bill of Rights, and George Washington's Farewell Address .

The bill passed the House of Representatives with 285 votes to 126. The Republicans voted 167 to 19 in favor. Among the Democrats, 118 voted for and 107 against the law. In the Senate, 72 senators voted for and 18 against the law. For the Republicans, all 43 senators voted for the bill, for the Democrats 29 for and 18 against. Eisenhower signed the law on September 9, 1957.

Background and provisions

The aim of the law was to enable all Americans to exercise their right to vote. In 1957 only 20% of blacks were registered as voters. Although they constituted the majority of the population in numerous counties and congressional districts in the south , discriminatory voter registration laws had stripped most blacks in the Reconstruction states of their right to vote in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Civil rights organizations had collected evidence of such practices, such as illiteracy tests or election taxes. While state-level voting is theirs, the federal government is responsible for overseeing that all American citizens exercise their constitutional right to vote at the federal level. These include the President of the United States , the Vice President, and Congress .

The Democratic party leader in the Senate , Lyndon B. Johnson from Texas , recognized that this civil rights law and its introduction and debate in Congress could lead to a split in his party, since the Democrats were divided into a southern bloc, which opposed civil rights, and a parliamentary group split by supporters from the north. Senators from the South held numerous important positions on various committees, which was due to their long membership in the Senate. Johnson submitted the bill to the Judiciary Committee headed by Senator James Eastland from Mississippi , who set about changing the bill beyond recognition. Senator Richard B. Russell cited the draft as an example of the federal government's attempts to interfere in state affairs. Johnson sought approval for the law from civil rights representatives, but on the contrary received approval from democratic anti-civil rights opponents in the south, as the law was weakened to the point that it was almost unusable.

Filibuster

Strom Thurmond , then Senator for the Democratic Party of South Carolina and staunch supporter of racial segregation , held the longest filibuster in US history to avoid the law. His speech was 24 hours and 18 minutes long. Mattresses were brought to the Senate from a nearby hotel so that the senators required to be present, such as the chairman, could sleep. Meanwhile, the content of Thurmond's speech became increasingly trivalent and obscure, including, for example, a biscuit recipe from his grandmother. Other Southern Senators , who had agreed to compromise not to use a filibuster against the bill, were angry with Thurmond, believing his behavior would make them appear incompetent to the electorate. Other senators, on the other hand, were upset by these critics for not supporting Thurmond.

Provisions of the law

The law is focused on the right to vote. Section 101 created a six-person civil rights commission, which was supposed to collect information on the extent to which citizens were deprived of their right to vote because of their race, religion or origin, the legal background and the laws and guidelines of the federal government. It should register complaints from people who had difficulties registering or voting themselves. It was stipulated that two years after the law was passed, the Commission would submit a final report to the President and Congress . The commission is then to be dissolved.

Part IV, Section 131 is the most important part of the law. It prohibits intimidation, coercion, or other obstruction of any person in exercising their right to vote in presidential and congressional elections. The attorney general should take the necessary measures, including orders and administrative measures , with fines of up to a maximum of $ 1,000 or six months in prison to enforce the law. Furthermore, the people accused in civil rights trials were given extensive guarantees. So it was federal judges allowed, even in such cases, hearings without juries perform. Because blacks were not only largely excluded from the right to vote in the south, but they were also not allowed to be part of a jury.

The final version of the law made both the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Deputy Attorney General's Office responsible for enforcing civil rights. As a result, on December 9, 1957, under the direction of Attorney General William P. Rogers , the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division was established within the Department of Justice . By then, the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division had been responsible for enforcing civil rights since the Reconstruction era .

Consequences of the law

Although the Federal Government's ability to influence civil rights legislation in individual states was strengthened with the passage of the law, its actual effect was limited. Because of the way it was passed, the government struggled to enforce it against the conservative coalition , specifically South Democrats. By 1960, the turnout of blacks had increased by 3%. The passage of the law showed, however, that the federal government was prepared to deal with the issue of civil rights to varying degrees.

At this point, Martin Luther King was 28 years old and was becoming one of the main leaders of the civil rights movement, so he spoke out against supporters of the idea of white supremacy . Racial supporters set fire to black churches and buildings of organizations devoted to training and voter registration for blacks. Blacks who were active as activists or who were suspected of activism were also physically attacked. King sent a telegram to Eisenhower asking him to give a speech, "using the power of his great office to alert the people of the South of the moral nature of this problem." Eisenhower replied, "I don't know what another speech would bring at this point."

Disappointed, King sent another telegram to Eisenhower saying “a deep disappointment to millions of goodwill Americans, north and south, who look up to you [Eisenhower] for guidance and direction in this period of inevitable social change ". King attempted to arrange a meeting with President Eisenhower, but only got one with Vice President Richard Nixon , which lasted two hours. It was reported that Nixon was impressed by King and that he had told the President that he looked forward to meeting him in the future.

Subsequent civil rights laws

The 1960 Civil Rights Act was designed to address some of the shortcomings of the 1957 law. It expanded the powers of federal judges to preserve the right to vote. The law also required local authorities to keep comprehensive electoral statistics for a review so that the government could determine whether and where there is a systematic disadvantage of certain population groups.

The civil rights movement continued to grow after the verdict and attempted nonviolent demonstrations to raise awareness. President John F. Kennedy , speaking on civil rights on June 11, 1963, called for a new law to be passed that “gives all Americans the right to be served equally in all public facilities - hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail outlets, and similar institutions ”as well as a“ greater protection of the right to choose ”. With his speech, Kennedy responded to a series of protests by the civil rights movement, in particular the Birmingham campaign in May 1963.

In the summer of 1963, numerous civil rights organizations worked together to educate Mississippi blacks about their right to vote and to register them as voters. During the Freedom Summer 1964, hundreds of students traveled from the north to the south to participate in such projects. Media coverage and violent backlash, including the murder of three civil rights activists in Mississippi, sparked support across the country for a new civil rights law.

After the assassination attempt on Kennedy , the new President Lyndon B. Johnson saw to it that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , which banned racial segregation and discrimination , and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which overturned election taxes and other laws that black and poor people were passed, were passed should keep away from the ballot boxes. The law also gave the federal authorities far-reaching control rights to prevent future discrimination.

literature

  • Keith M. Finley: Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938-1965 , Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2008, ISBN 9780807134610

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Boston Globe : "An inside look at Eisenhower's civil rights record" ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated November 21, 2007, accessed August 8, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / articles.boston.com
  2. ↑ govtrack: Details of the House Vote , accessed August 8, 2013
  3. ↑ govtrack: Senate Voting Details , Retrieved August 8, 2013
  4. ^ Robert Caro: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson , Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. , New York City 2002, ISBN 0394528360 , chapter 39
  5. ^ Robert Caro: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson , Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. , New York City 2002, ISBN 0394528360
  6. ↑ David A. Nichols: A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution , Simon & Schuster, New York City 2007, ISBN 9781416541509
  7. ↑ civilrights.org: Civil Rights Act of 1960 Civil Rights Monitor ( memento of October 24, 2008 in the web archive archive.today )
  8. ↑ John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum , Copy of Speech ( Memento of May 14, 2012 on the Internet Archive ), Retrieved August 8, 2013
  9. ↑ FindUSlaw: legal text of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Retrieved August 8, 2013.