Civil Rights Act of 1964

After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his determination to pass a strong civil rights act that would end racial discrimination in employment, education, and other spheres of life. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas D. Katzenbach, Johnson's congressional liaison, worked with Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (D.-Minn.) and Senate minority leader Everett M. Dirksen (R.-Ill.) to achieve a compromise that would assure final passage. The result was the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title I of the act guarantees equal voting rights by removing registration requirements and procedures biased against minorities and the underprivileged. Title II prohibits segregation or discrimination in places of public accommodation involved in interstate commerce. Title VII bans discrimination by trade unions, schools, and employers involved in interstate commerce or doing business with the federal government. This section also applies to discrimination on the basis of sex and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce these provisions. The act also calls for the desegregation of public schools (title IV), broadens the duties of the Civil Rights Commission (title V), and assures nondiscrimination in the distribution of funds under federally assisted programs (title VI).

Initially, the most controversial provision was title II. Because the 1883 Civil Rights cases held that the Fourteenth Amendment cannot reach private discrimination in public accommodations, Congress based title II on the Constitution's Commerce Clause, which gives Congress the authority to regulate interstate commerce. In Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241, 85 S. Ct. 348, 13 L. Ed. 2d 258 (1964), the Supreme Court upheld title II as a constitutional application of the Commerce Clause.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

For Legislative History of Act, see p. 2355

PUBLIC LAW 88–352; 78 STAT. 241

[H. R. 7152]

An Act to enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States 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.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That:

This Act may be cited as the "Civil Rights Act of 1964."

TITLE I—VOTING RIGHTS

Sec. 101. Section 2004 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1971), as amended by section 1313 of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (71 Stats. 637), and as further amended by section 601 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (74 Stats. 90),¹ is further amended as follows:

(a) Insert "1" after "(a)" in subsection (a) and add at the end of subsection (a) the following new paragraphs:

"(2) No person acting under color of law shall—

"(A) in determining whether any individual is qualified under State law or laws to vote in any Federal election, apply any standard, practice, or procedure different from the standards, practices, or procedures applied under such law or laws to other individuals within the same county, parish, or similar political subdivision who have been found by State officials to be qualified to vote;

"(B) deny the right of any individual to vote in any Federal election because of an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting, if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote in such election; or

"(C) employ any literacy test as a qualification for voting in any Federal election unless (i) such test is administered to each individual and is conducted wholly in writing, and (ii) a certified copy of the test and of the answers given by the individual is furnished to him within twenty-five days of the submission of his request made within the period of time during which records and papers are required to be retained and preserved pursuant to title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (42 U.S.C. 1974–74e; 74 Stat. 88): Provided, however, That the Attorney General may enter into agreements with appropriate State or local authorities that preparation, conduct, and maintenance of such tests in accordance with the provisions of applicable State or local law, including such special provisions as are necessary in the preparation, conduct, and maintenance of such tests for persons who are blind or otherwise physically handicapped, meet the purposes of this sub-paragraph and constitute compliance therewith.

"(3) For purposes of this subsection—

"(A) the term 'vote' shall have the same meaning as in subsection (e) of this section;

"(B) the phrase 'literacy test' includes any test of the ability to read, write, understand, or interpret any matter."

(b) Insert immediately following the period at the end of the first sentence of subsection (c) the following new sentence: "If in any such proceeding literacy is a relevant fact there shall be a rebuttable presumption that any person who has not been adjudged an incompetent and who has completed the sixth grade in a public school in, or in a private school accredited by, any State or territory, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico where instruction is carried on predominantly in the English language, possesses sufficient literacy, comprehension, and intelligence to vote in any Federal election."

(c) Add the following subsection "(f)" and designate the present subsection "(f)" as subsection "(g)":

¹ 42 U.S.C.A. § 1971.

"(f) When used in subsection (a) or (c) of this section, the words 'Federal election' shall mean any general, special, or primary election held solely or in part for the purpose of electing or selecting any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the Senate, or Member of the House of Representatives."

(d) Add the following subsection "(h)":

"(h) In any proceeding instituted by the United States in any district court of the United States under this section in which the Attorney General requests a finding of a pattern or practice of discrimination pursuant to subsection (e) of this section the Attorney General, at the time he files the complaint, or any defendant in the proceeding, within twenty days after service upon him of the complaint, may file with the clerk of such court a request that a court of three judges be convened to hear and determine the entire case. A copy of the request for a three-judge court shall be immediately furnished by such clerk to the chief judge of the circuit (or in his absence, the presiding circuit judge of the circuit) in which the case is pending. Upon receipt of the copy of such request it shall be the duty of the chief judge of the circuit or the presiding circuit judge, as the case may be, to designate immediately three judges in such circuit, of whom at least one shall be a circuit judge and another of whom shall be a district judge of the court in which the proceeding was instituted, to hear and determine such case, and it shall be the duty of the judges so designated to assign the case for hearing at the earliest practicable date, to participate in the hearing and determination thereof, and to cause the case to be in every way expedited. An appeal from the final judgment of such court will lie to the Supreme Court.

"In any proceeding brought under subsection (c) of this section to enforce subsection (b) of this section, or in the event neither the Attorney General nor any defendant files a request for a three-judge court in any proceeding authorized by this subsection, it shall be the duty of the chief judge of the district (or in his absence, the acting chief judge) in which the case is pending immediately to designate a judge in such district to hear and determine the case. In the event that no judge in the district is available to hear and determine the case, the chief judge of the district, or the acting chief judge, as the case may be, shall certify this fact to the chief judge of the circuit (or, in his absence, the acting chief judge) who shall then designate a district or circuit judge of the circuit to hear and determine the case."

"It shall be the duty of the judge designated pursuant to this section to assign the case for hearing at the earliest practicable date and to cause the case to be in every way expedited."

TITLE II—INJUNCTIVE RELIEF AGAINST DISCRIMINATION IN PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION

Sec. 201. (a) All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

(b) Each of the following establishments which serves the public is a place of public accommodation within the meaning of this title if its operations affect commerce, or if discrimination or segregation by it is supported by State action:

(1) any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his residence;

(2) any restaurant, cafeteria, lunchroom, lunch counter, soda fountain, or other facility principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises, including, but not limited to, any such facility located on the premises of any retail establishment; or any gasoline station;

(3) any motion picture house, theater, concert hall, sports arena, stadium or other place of exhibition or entertainment; and

(4) any establishment (A) (i) which is physically located within the premises of any establishment otherwise covered by this subsection, or (ii) within the premises of which is physically located any such covered establishment, and (B) which holds itself out as serving patrons of such covered establishment.

(c) The operations of an establishment affect commerce within the meaning of this title if (1) it is one of the establishments described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b); (2) in the case of an establishment described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b), it serves or offers to serve inter-state travelers or a substantial portion of the food which it serves, or gasoline or other products which it sells, has moved in commerce; (3) in the case of an establishment described in paragraph (3) of subsection (b), it customarily presents films, performances, athletic teams, exhibitions, or other sources of entertainment which move in commerce; and (4) in the case of an establishment described in paragraph (4) of subsection (b), it is physically located within the premises of, or there is physically located within its premises, an establishment the operations of which affect commerce within the meaning of this subsection. For purposes of this section, "commerce" means travel, trade, traffic, commerce, transportation, or communication among the several States, or between the District of Columbia and any State, or between any foreign country or any territory or possession and any State or the District of Columbia, or between points in the same State but through any other State or the District of Columbia or a foreign country.

(d) Discrimination or segregation by an establishment is supported by State action within the meaning of this title if such discrimination or segregation (1) is carried on under color of any law, statute, ordinance, or regulation; or (2) is carried on under color of any custom or usage required or enforced by officials of the State or political subdivision thereof; or (3) is required by action of the State or political sub-division thereof.

(e) The provisions of this title shall not apply to a private club or other establishment not in fact open to the public, except to the extent that the facilities of such establishment are made available to the customers or patrons of an establishment within the scope of subsections (b).

Sec. 202. All persons shall be entitled to be free, at any establishment or place, from discrimination or segregation of any kind on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin, if such discrimination or segregation is or purports to be required by any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, rule, or order of a State or any agency or political subdivision thereof.

Sec. 203. No person shall (a) withhold, deny, or attempt to withhold or deny, or deprive or attempt to deprive, any person of any right or privilege secured by section 201 or 202, or (b) intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person with the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by section 201 or 202, or (c) punish or attempt to punish any person for exercising or attempting to exercise any right or privilege secured by section 201 or 202.

Sec. 204. (a) Whenever any person has engaged or there are reasonable grounds to believe that any person is about to engage in any act or practice prohibited by section 203, a civil action for preventive relief, including an application for a permanent or temporary injunction, restraining order, or other order, may be instituted by the person aggrieved and, upon timely application, the court may, in its discretion, permit the Attorney General to intervene in such civil action if he certifies that the case is of general public importance. Upon application by the complaint and in such circumstances as the court may deem just, the court may appoint an attorney for such complainant and may authorize the commencement of the civil action without the payment of fees, costs, or security.

(b) In any action commenced pursuant to this title, the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs, and the United States shall be liable for costs the same as a private person.

(c) In the case of an alleged act or practice prohibited by this title which occurs in a State, or political subdivision of a State, which has a State or local law prohibiting such act or practice and establishing or authorizing a State or local authority to grant or seek relief from such practice or to institute criminal proceedings with respect thereto upon receiving notice thereof, no civil action may be brought under subsection (a) before the expiration of thirty days after written notice of such alleged act or practice has been given to the appropriate State or local authority by registered mail or in person, provided that the court may stay proceedings in such civil action pending the termination of State or local enforcement proceedings.

(d) In the case of an alleged act or practice prohibited by this title which occurs in a State, or political subdivision of a State, which has no State or local law prohibiting such act or practice, a civil action may be brought under subsection (a): Provided, That the court may refer the matter to the Community Relations Service established by title X of this Act for as long as the court believes there is a reasonable possibility of obtaining voluntarily compliance, but for not more than sixty days: Provided further, That upon expiration of such sixty-day period, the court may extend such period for an additional period, not to exceed a cumulative total of one hundred and twenty days, if it believes there then exists a reasonable possibility of securing voluntary compliance.

Sec. 205. The Service is authorized to make a full investigation of any complaint referred to it by the court under section 204(d) and may hold such hearings with respect thereto as may be necessary. The Service shall conduct any hearings with respect to any such complaint in executive session, and shall not release any testimony given therein except by agreement of all parties involved in the complaint with the permission of the court, and the Service shall endeavor to bring about a voluntary settlement between the parties.

Sec. 206 (a) Whenever the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that any person or group of persons is engaged in a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of any of the rights secured by this title, and that the pattern or practice is of such a nature and is intended to deny the full exercise of the rights herein described, the Attorney General may bring a civil action in the appropriate district court of the United States by filing with it a complaint (1) signed by him (or in his absence the Acting Attorney General), (2) setting forth facts pertaining to such pattern or practice, and (3) requesting such preventive relief, including an application for a permanent or temporary injunction, restraining order or other order against the person or persons responsible for such pattern or practice, as he deems necessary to insure the full enjoyment of the rights herein described.

(b) In any such proceeding the Attorney General may file with the clerk of such court a request that a court of three judges be convened to hear and determine the case. Such request by the Attorney General shall be accompanied by a certificate that, in his opinion, the case is of general public importance. A copy of the certificate and request for a three-judge court shall be immediately furnished by such clerk to the chief judge of the circuit (or in his absence, the presiding circuit judge of the circuit) in which the case is pending. Upon receipt of the copy of such request it shall be the duty of the chief judge of the circuit or the presiding circuit judge, as the case may be, to designate immediately three judges in such circuit, of whom at least one shall be a circuit judge and another of whom shall be a district judge of the court in which the proceeding was instituted, to hear and determine such case, and it shall be the duty of the judges so designated to assign the case for hearing at the earliest practicable date, to participate in the hearing and determination thereof, and to cause the case to be in every way expedited. An appeal from the final judgment of such court will lie to the Supreme Court.

In the event the Attorney General fails to file such a request in any such proceeding, it shall be the duty of the chief judge of the district (or in his absence, the acting chief judge) in which the case is pending immediately to designate a judge in such district to hear and determine the case. In the event that no judge in the district is available to hear and determine the case, the chief judge of the district, or the acting chief judge, as the case may be, shall certify this fact to the chief judge of the circuit (or in his absence, the acting chief judge) who shall then designate a district or circuit judge of the circuit to hear and determine the case.

It shall be the duty of the judge designated pursuant to this section to assign the case for hearing at the earliest practicable date and to cause the case to be in every way expedited.

Sec. 207. (a) The district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to this title and shall exercise the same without regard to whether the aggrieved party shall have exhausted any administrative or other remedies that may be provided by law.

(b) The remedies provided in this title shall be the exclusive means of enforcing the rights based on this title, but nothing in this title shall prelude any individual or any State or local agency from asserting any right based on any other Federal or State law not inconsistent with this title, including any statute or ordinance requiring nondiscrimination in public establishments or accommodations, or from pursuing any remedy, civil or criminal, which may be available for the vindication or enforcement of such right.

TITLE III—DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC FACILITIES

Sec. 301. (a) Whenever the Attorney General receives a complaint in writing signed by an individual to the effect that he is being deprived of or threatened with the loss of his right to the equal protection of the laws, on account of his race, color, religion, or national origin, by being denied equal utilization of any public facility which is owned, operated, or managed by or on behalf of any State or subdivision thereof, other than a public school or public college as defined in section 401 of title IV hereof, and the Attorney General believes the complaint is meritorious and certifies that the signer or signers of such complaint are unable, in his judgment, to initiate and maintain appropriate legal proceedings for relief and that the institution of an action will materially further the orderly progress of desegregation in public facilities, the Attorney General is authorized to institute for or in the name of the United States a civil action in any appropriate district court of the United States against such parties and for such relief as may be appropriate, and such court shall have and shall exercise jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to this section. The Attorney General may implead as defendants such additional parties as are or become necessary to the grant of effective relief hereunder.

(b) The Attorney General may deem a person or persons unable to initiate and maintain appropriate legal proceedings within the meaning of subsection (a) of this section when such person or persons are unable, either directly or through other interested persons or organizations, to bear the expense of the litigation or to obtain effective legal representation; or whenever he is satisfied that the institution of such litigation would jeopardize the personal safety, employment, or economic standing of such person or persons, their families, or their property.

Sec. 302. In any action or proceeding under this title the United States shall be liable for costs, including a reasonable attorney's fee, the same as a private person.

Sec. 303. Nothing in this title shall affect adversely the right of any person to sue for or obtain relief in any court against discrimination in any facility covered by this title.

Sec. 304. A complaint as used in this title is a writing or document within the meaning of section 1001, title 18, United States Code.

TITLE IV—DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

definitions

Sec. 401. As used in this title—

(a) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Education.

(b) "Desegregation" means the assignment of students to public schools and within such schools without regard to their race, color, religion, or national origin, but "desegregation" shall not mean the assignment of students to public schools in order to overcome racial imbalance.

(c) "Public school" means any elementary or secondary educational institution, and "public college" means any institution of higher education or any technical or vocational school above the secondary school level, provided that such public school or public college is operated by a State, subdivision of a State, or governmental agency within a State, or operated wholly or predominantly from or through the use of governmental funds or property, or funds or property derived from a governmental source.

(d) "School board" means any agency or agencies which administer a system of one or more public schools and any other agency which is responsible for the assignment of students to or within such system.

survey and report of educational opportunities

Sec. 402. The Commissioner shall conduct a survey and make a report to the President and the Congress, with two years of the enactment of this title, concerning the lack of availability of equal educational opportunities for individuals by reason of race, color, religion, or national origin in public educational institutions at all levels in the United States, its territories and possessions, and the District of Columbia.

technical assistance

Sec. 403. The Commissioner is authorized, upon the application of any school board, State, municipality, school district, or other governmental unit legally responsible for operating a public school or schools, to render technical assistance to such applicant in the preparation, adoption, and implementation of plans for the desegregation of public schools. Such technical assistance may, among other activities, include making available to such agencies information regarding effective methods of coping with special educational problems occasioned by desegregation, and making available to such agencies personnel of the Office of Education or other persons specially equipped to advise and assist them in coping with such problems.

training institutes

Sec. 404. The Commissioner is authorized to arrange, through grants or contracts, with institutions of higher education for the operation of short-term or regular session institutes for special training designed to improve the ability of teachers, supervisors, counselors, and other elementary or secondary school personnel to deal effectively with special educational problems occasioned by desegregation. Individuals who attend such an institute on a full-time basis may be paid stipends for the period of their attendance at such institute in amounts specified by the Commissioner in regulations, including allowances for travel to attend such institute.

grants

Sec. 405. (a) The Commissioner is authorized, upon the application of a school board, to make grants to such board to pay, in whole in part, the cost of—

(1) giving to teachers and others school personnel inservice training in dealing with problems incident to desegregation, and

(2) employing specialists to advise in problems incident to desegregation.

(b) In determining whether to make a grant, and in fixing the amount thereof and the terms and conditions on which it will be made, the Commissioner shall take into consideration the amount available for grants under this section and the other applications which are pending before him; the financial condition of the applicant and the other resources available to it; the nature, extent, and gravity of its problems incident to desegregation; and such other factors as he finds relevant.

payments

Sec. 406. Payments pursuant to a grant or contract under this title may be made (after necessary adjustments on account of previously made overpayments or underpayments) in advance or by way of reimbursement, and in such installments, as the Commissioner may determine.

suits by the attorney general

Sec. 407. (a) Whenever the Attorney General receives a complaint in writing—

(1) signed by a parent or group of parents to the effect that his or their minor children, as members of a class of persons similarly situated, are being deprived by a school board of the equal protection of the laws, or

(2) signed by an individual, or his parent, to the effect that he has been denied admission to or not permitted to continue in attendance at a public college by reason of race, color, religion, or national origin, and the Attorney General believes the complaint is meritorious and certifies that the signer or signers of such complaint are unable, in his judgment, to initiate and maintain appropriate legal proceedings for relief and that the institution of an action will materially further the orderly achievement of desegregation in public education, the Attorney General is authorized, after giving notice of such complaint to the appropriate school board or college authority and after certifying that he is satisfied that such board or authority has had a reasonable time to adjust the conditions alleged in such complaint, to institute for or in the name of the United States a civil action in any appropriate district court of the United States against such parties and for such relief as may be appropriate, and such court shall have and shall exercise jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to this section, provided that nothing herein shall empower any official or court of the United States to issue any order seeking to achieve a racial balance in any school by requiring the transportation of pupils or students from one school to another or one school district to another in order to achieve such racial balance, or otherwise enlarge the existing power of the court to insure compliance with constitutional standards. The Attorney General may implead as defendants such additional parties as are or become necessary to the grant of effective relief hereunder.

(b) The Attorney General may deem a person or persons unable to initiate and maintain appropriate legal proceedings within the meaning of subsection (a) of this section when such person or persons are unable, either directly or through other interested persons or organizations, to bear the expense of the litigation or to obtain effective legal representation; or whenever he is satisfied that the institution of such litigation would jeopardize the personal safety, employment, or economic standing of such person or persons, their families, or their property.

(c) The term "parent" as used in this section includes any person standing in loco parentis. A "complaint" as used in this section is a writing or document within the meaning of section 1001, title 18, United States Code.

Sec. 408. In any action or proceeding under this title the United States shall be liable for costs the same as a private person.

Sec. 409. Nothing in this title shall affect adversely the right of any person to sue for or obtain relief in any court against discrimination in public education.

Sec. 410. Nothing in this title shall prohibit classification and assignment for reasons other than race, color, religion, or national origin.

TITLE V—COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

Sec. 501. Section 102 of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1975a; 71 Stat. 634)² is amended to read as follows:

² 42 U.S.C.A. § 1975a.

"rules of procedure of the commission hearings

"Sec. 102. (a) At least thirty days prior to the commencement of any hearing, the Commission shall cause to be published in the Federal Register notice of the date on which such hearing is to commence, the place at which it is to be held and the subject of the hearing. The Chairman, or one designated by him to act as Chairman at a hearing of the Commission, shall announce in an opening statement the subject of the hearing.

"(b) A copy of the Commission's rules shall be made available to any witness before the Commission, and a witness compelled to appear before the Commission or required to produce written or other matter shall be served with a copy of the Commission's rules at the time of service of the subpoena.

"(c) Any person compelled to appear in person before the Commission shall be accorded the right to be accompanied and advised by counsel, who shall have the right to subject his client to reasonable examination, and to make objections on the record and to argue briefly the basis for such objections. The Commission shall proceed with reasonable dispatch to conclude any hearing in which it is engaged. Due regard be had for the convenience and necessity of witnesses.

"(d) The Chairman or Acting Chairman may punish breaches of order and decorum by censure and exclusion from the hearings.

"(e) If the Commission determines that evidence or testimony at any hearing may tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person, it shall receive such evidence or testimony or summary of such evidence or testimony in executive session. The Commission shall afford any person defamed, degraded, or incriminate by such evidence or testimony an opportunity to appear and be heard in executive session, with a reasonable number of additional witnesses requested by him, before deciding to use such evidence or testimony. In the event the Commission determines to release or use such evidence or testimony in such manner as to reveal publicly the identity of the person defamed, degraded, or incriminate, such evidence or testimony, prior to such public release or use, shall be given at a public session, and the Commission shall afford such person an opportunity to appear as a voluntary witness or to file a sworn statement in his behalf and to submit brief and pertinent sworn statements of others. The Commission shall receive and dispose of requests from such person to subpoena additional witnesses.

"(f) Except as provided in sections 102 and 105(f) of this Act, the Chairman shall receive and the Commission shall dispose of requests to subpoena additional witnesses.

"(g) No evidence or testimony or summary of evidence or testimony taken in executive session may be released or used in public sessions without the consent of the Commission. Whoever releases or uses in public without the consent of the Commission such evidence or testimony taken in executive session shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned for not more than one year.

"(h) In the discretion of the Commission, witnesses may submit brief and pertinent sworn statements in writing for inclusion in the record. The Commission shall determine the pertinency of testimony and evidence adduced at its hearings.

"(i) Every person who submits data or evidence shall be entitled to retain or, on payment of lawfully prescribed costs, procure a copy or transcript thereof, except that a witness in a hearing held in executive session may for good cause be limited to inspection of the official transcript of his testimony. Transcript copies of public sessions may be obtained by the public upon the payment of the cost thereof. An accurate transcript shall be made of the testimony of all witnesses at all hearings, either public or executive sessions, of the Commission or of any subcommittee thereof.

"(j) A witness attending any session of the Commission shall receive $6 for each day's attendance and for the time necessarily occupied in going to and returning from the same, and 10 cents per mile for going from and returning to his place of residence. Witnesses who attend at points so far removed from their respective residences as to prohibit return thereto from day to day shall be entitled to an additional allowance of $10 per day for expenses of subsistence, including the time necessarily occupied in going to an returning from the place of attendance. Mileage payments shall be tendered to the witness upon service of a subpoena issued on behalf of the Commission or any subcommittee thereof.

"(k) The commission shall not issue any subpoena for the attendance and testimony of witnesses or for the production of written or other matter which would require the presence of the party subpoenaed at a hearing to be held outside of the State wherein the witness is found or resides or is domiciled or transacts business, or has appointed an agent for receipt of service of process except that, in any event, the Commission may issue subpoenas for the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of written or other matter at a hearing held within fifty miles of the place where the witness is found or resides or is domiciled or transacts business or has appointed an agent for receipt of service of process.

"(l) The Commission shall separately state and currently publish in the Federal Register (1) descriptions of its central and field organization including the established places at which, and methods whereby, the public may secure information or make requests; (2) statements of the general course and method by which its functions are channeled and determined, and (3) rules adopted as authorized by law. No person shall in any manner be subject to or required to resort to rules, organization, or procedure not so published."

Sec. 502. Section 103(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1975b(a); 71 Stat. 634)³ is amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 103. (a) Each member of the Commission who is not otherwise in the service of the Government of the United States shall receive the sum of $75 per day for each day spent in the work of the Commission, shall be paid actual travel expenses, and per diem in lieu of subsistence expenses when away from his usual place of residence, in accordance with section 5 of the Administrative Expenses Act of 1946, as amended (5 U.S.C. 73b-2; 60 Stat. 808)."

Sec. 503. Section 103(b) of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1975b(b); 71 Stat. 634)⁴ is amended to read as follows:

"(b) Each member of the Commission who is otherwise in the service of the Government of the United States shall serve without compensation in addition to that received for such other service, but while engaged in the work of the Commission shall be paid actual travel expenses, and per diem in lieu of subsistence expenses when away from his usual place of residence, in accordance with the provisions of the Travel Expenses Act of 1949, as amended (5 U.S.C. 835–42; 63 Stat. 166)."

Sec. 504. (a) Section 104(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1975c(a); 71 Stat. 635), as amended,⁵ is further amended to read as follows:

"duties of the commission

"Sec. 104 (a) The Commission shall—

"(1) investigate allegations in writing under oath or affirmation that certain citizens of the United States are being deprived of their right to vote and have that vote counted by reason of their color, race, religion, or national origin; which writing, under oath or affirmation, shall set forth the facts upon which such belief or beliefs are based;

"(2) study and collect information concerning legal developments constituting a denial of equal protection of the laws under the Constitution because of race, color, religion or national origin or in the administration of justice;

"(3) appraise the laws and policies of the Federal Government with respect to denials of equal protection of the laws under the Constitution because of race, color, religion or national origin or in the administration of justice;

"(4) serve as a national clearinghouse for information in respect to denials of equal protection of the laws because of race, color, religion or national origin, including but not limited to the fields of voting, education, housing, employment, the use of public facilities, and transportation, or in the administration of justice;

"(5) investigate allegations, made in writing and under oath or affirmation, that citizens of the United States are unlawfully being accorded or denied the right to vote, or to have their votes properly counted, in any election of presidential electors, Members of the United States Senate, or of the House of Representatives, as a result of any pattern or practice of fraud or discrimination in the conduct of such election; and

"(6) Nothing in this or any other Act shall be construed as authorizing the Commission, its Advisory Committees, or any person under its supervision or control to inquire into or investigate any membership practices or internal operations of any fraternal organization, any college or university fraternity or sorority, any private club or any religious organization."

(b) Section 104(b) of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1975c(b); 71 Stat. 635), as amended,⁶ is further amended by striking out the present subsection "(b)" and by substituting therefor:

³ 42 U.S.C.A. § 1975b(a).

⁴ 42 U.S.C.A. § 1975b(b).

⁵ 42 U.S.C.A. § 1975c(a).

⁶ 42 U.S.C.A. § 1975c(b).

"(b) The Commission shall submit interim reports to the President and to the Congress at such times as the Commission, the Congress or the President shall deem desirable, and shall submit to the President and to the Congress a final report of its activities, findings, and recommendations not later than January 31, 1968."

Sec. 505. Section 105(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1975d(a); 71 Stat. 636)⁷ is amended by striking out in the last sentence thereof "$50 per diem" and inserting in lieu thereof "$75 per diem."

Sec. 506. Section 105(f) and section 105(g) of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1975d(f) and (g); 71 Stat. 636)⁸ are amended to read as follows:

"(f) The Commission, or on the authorization of the Commission any subcommittee of two or more members, at least one of whom shall be of each major political party, may, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act, hold such hearings and act at such times and places as the Commission or such authorized subcommittee may deem advisable. Subpoenas for the attendance and testimony of witnesses or the production of written or other matter may be issued in accordance with the rules of the Commission as contained in section 102(j) and (k) of this Act, over the signature of the Chairman of the Commission or of such subcommittee, and may be served by any person designated by such Chairman. The holding of hearings by the Commission, or the appointment of a subcommittee to hold hearings pursuant to this subparagraph, must by approved by a majority of the Commission, or by a majority of the members present at a meeting at which at least a quorum of four members is present.

"(g) In case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena, any district court of the United States or the United States court of any territory or possession, or the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia, within the jurisdiction of which said person guilty of contumacy or refusal to obey is found or resides or is domiciled or transacts business, or has appointed an agent for receipt of service of process, upon application by the Attorney General of the United States shall have jurisdiction to issue to such person an order requiring such person to appear before the Commission or a subcommittee thereof, there to produce pertinent, relevant and nonprivileged evidence if so ordered, or there to give testimony touching the matter under investigation; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by said court as a contempt thereof."

Sec. 507. Section 105 of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (42 U.S.C. 1975d; 71 Stat. 636), as amended by section 401 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (42 U.S.C. 1975d(h); 74 Stat. 89),⁹ is further amended by adding a new subsection at the end to read as follows:

"(i) The Commission shall have the power to make such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act."

TITLE VI—NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS

Sec. 601. No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

⁷ 42 U.S.C.A. § 1975d(a).

⁸ 42 U.S.C.A. § 1975d(g).

⁹ 42 U.S.C.A. § 1975d(h).

Sec. 602. Each Federal department and agency which is empowered to extend Federal financial assistance to any program or activity, by way of grant, loan, or contract other than a contract of insurance of guaranty, is authorized and directed to effectuate the provisions of section 601 with respect to such program or activity by issuing rules, regulations, or orders of general applicability which shall be consistent with achievement of the objectives of the statute authorizing the financial assistance in connection with which the action is taken. No such rule, regulation, or order shall become effective unless and until approved by the President. Compliance with any requirement adopted of or refusal to grant or to continue assistance under such program or activity to any recipient as to whom there has been an express finding on the record, after opportunity for hearing, of a failure to comply with such requirement, but such termination or refusal shall be limited to the particular political entity, or part thereof, in which such noncompliance has been so found, or (2) by any other means authorized by law: Provided, however, That no such action shall be taken until the department or agency concerned has advised the appropriate person or persons of the failure to comply with the requirement and has determined that compliance cannot be secured by voluntary means. In the case of any action terminating, or refusing to grant or continue, assistance because failure to comply with a requirement imposed pursuant to this section, the head of the Federal department or agency shall file with the committees of the House and Senate having legislative jurisdiction over the program of activity involved a full written report of the circumstances and the grounds for such action. No such action shall become effective until thirty days have elapsed after the filing of such report.

Sec. 603. Any department or agency action taken pursuant to section 602 shall be subject to such judicial review as may otherwise be provided by law for similar action taken by such department or agency on other grounds. In the case of action, not otherwise subject to judicial review, terminating or refusing to grant or to continue financial assistance upon a finding of failure to comply with any requirement imposed pursuant to section 602, any person aggrieved (including any State or political subdivision thereof and any agency of either) may obtain judicial review of such action in accordance with section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act, and such action shall not be deemed committed to unreviewable agency discretion within the meaning of that section.

Sec. 604. Nothing contained in this title shall be construed to authorize action under this title by any department or agency with respect to any employment practice of any employer, employment agency, or labor organization except where a primary objective of the Federal financial assistance is extended by way of a contract of insurance or guaranty.

Sec. 605. Nothing contained in this title shall add to or detract from any existing authority with respect to any program or activity under which Federal financial assistance is extended by way of a contract of insurance or guaranty.

TITLE VII—EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

definitions

Sec. 701. For the purposes of this title—

(a) The term "person" includes one or more individuals, labor unions, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, or receivers.

(b) The term "employer" means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has twenty-five or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such a person, but such term does not include (1) the United States, a corporation wholly owned by the Government of the United States, an Indian tribe, or a State or political subdivision thereof, (2) a bona fide private membership club (other than a labor organization) which is exempt from taxation under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954; Provided, That during the first year after the effective date prescribed in subsection (a) of section 716, persons having fewer than one hundred employees (and their agents) shall not be considered employers, and, during the second year after such date, persons having fewer than fifty employees (and their agents) shall not be considered employers: Provided further, That it shall be the policy of the United States to insure equal employment opportunities for Federal employees without discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin and the President shall utilize his existing authority to effectuate this policy.

(c) The term "employment agency" means any person regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer and includes an agent of such a person; but shall not include an agency of the United States, or an agency of a State or political subdivision of a State, except that such term shall include the United States Employment Service and the system of State and local employment services receiving Federal assistance.

(d) The term "labor organization" means a labor organization engaged in an industry affecting commerce, and any agent of such an organization, and includes any organization of any kind, any agency, or employee representation committee, group, association, or plan so engaged in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment, and any conference, general committee, joint or system board, or joint council so engaged which is subordinate to a national or international labor organization.

(e) A labor organization shall be deemed to be engaged in an industry affecting commerce if (1) it maintains or operates a hiring hall or hiring office which procures employees for an employer or procures for employees opportunities to work for an employer, or (2) the number of its members (or, where it is a labor organization composed of other labor organizations or their representatives, if the aggregate number of the members of such other labor organization) is (A) one hundred or more during the first year after the effective date prescribed in subsection (a) of section 716, (B) seventy-five or more during the second year after such date or fifty or more during the third year, or (c) twenty-five or more thereafter, and such labor organization—

(1) is the certified representative of employees under the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, or the Railway Labor Act, as amended;

(2) although not certified, is a national or international labor organization or a local labor organization recognized or acting as the representative of employees of an employer or employers engaged in an industry affecting commerce;

(3) has chartered a local labor organization or subsidiary body which representing or actively seeking to represent employees of employers within the meaning of paragraph (1) or (2); or

(4) has been chartered by a labor organization representing or actively seeking to represent employees within the meaning of paragraph (1) or (2) as the local or subordinate body through which such employees may enjoy membership or become affiliated with such labor organization; or

(5) is a conference, general committee, joint or system board, or joint council subordinate to a national or international labor organization, which includes a labor organization engaged in an industry affecting commerce within the meaning of any of the preceding paragraphs of this subsection.

(f) The term "employee" means an individual employed by an employer.

(g) The term "commerce" means trade, traffic, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States; or between a State and any place outside thereof; or within the District of Columbia, or a possession of the United States; or between points in the same State but through a point outside thereof.

(h) The term "industry affecting commerce" means any activity, business, or industry in commerce or in which a labor dispute would hinder or obstruct commerce or the free flow of commerce and includes any activity or industry "affecting commerce" within the meaning of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959.

(i) The term "State" includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Wake Island, the Canal Zone, and Outer Continental Shelf lands defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

exemption

Sec. 702. This title shall not apply to an employer with respect the employment of aliens outside any State, or to a religious corporation, association, or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, or society of its religious activities or to an educational institution with respect to the employment of individuals to perform work connected with the educational activities of such institution.

discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

Sec. 703. (a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer—

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;

(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

(b) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, or to classify or refer for employment and individual on the basis of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

(c) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for a labor organization—

(1) to exclude or to expel from its membership, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;

(2) to limit, segregate, or classify its membership, or to classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual, in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities, or would limit such employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee or as an applicant for employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or

(3) to cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an individual in violation of this section.

(d) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for any employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining, including on-the-job training programs to discriminate against any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, (1) it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to hire and employ employees, for an employment agency to classify, or refer for employment any individual, for a labor organization to classify its membership or to classify or refer for employment any individual, or for an employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining programs to admit or employ any individual in any such program, on the basis of his religion, sex, or national origin in those certain instances where religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise, and (2) it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for a school, college, university, or other educational institution or institution of learning to hire and employ employees of a particular religion if such school, college, university, or other educational institution or institution of learning is, in whole or in substantial part, owned, supported, controlled, or managed by a particular religion or by a particular religious corporation, association, or society, or if the curriculum, of such school, college, university, or other educational institution or institution of learning is directed toward the propagation of a particular religion.

(f) As used in this title, the phrase "unlawful employment practice" shall not be deemed to include any action or measure taken by an employer, labor organization, joint labormanagement committee, employment agency with respect to an individual who is a member of the Communist Party of the United States or of any other organization required to register as a Communist-action or Communist-front organization by final order of the Subversive Activities Control Board pursuant to the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950.

(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or refuse to hire and employ any individual for any position, for an employer to discharge any individual from any position, or for an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer any individual for employment in any position, or for a labor organization to fail or refuse to refer any individual for employment in any position, if—

(1) the occupancy of such position, or access to the premises in or upon which any part of the duties of such position is performed or is to be performed, is subject to any requirement imposed in the interest of the national security of the United States under any security program in effect pursuant to or administered under any statute of the United States or any Executive order of the President; and

(2) such individual has not fulfilled or has ceased to fulfill that requirement.

(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to apply different standards of compensation, or different terms, conditions, or privileges of employment pursuant to a bona fide seniority or merit system, or a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of productions or to employees who work in different locations, provided that such differences are not the result of an intention to discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, nor shall it be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to give and to act upon the results of any professionally developed ability test provided that such test, its administration or action upon the results is not designed, intended or used to discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It shall not be an unlawful employment practice under this title for any employer to differentiate upon the basis of sex in determining the amount of the wages or compensation paid or to be paid to employees of such employer if such differentiate is authorized by the provisions of section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (29 U.S.C. 206(d). ¹⁰

(i) Nothing contained in this title shall apply to any business or enterprise on or near an Indian reservation with respect to any publicly announced employment practice of such business or enterprise under which preferential treatment is given to any individual because he is an Indian living on or near a reservation.

(j) Nothing contained in this title shall be interpreted to require any employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labormanagement committee subject to this title to grant preferential treatment to any individual or to any group because of the race, color, religion, sex, or national origin of such individual or group on account of an imbalance which may exist with respect to the to any group because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin employed by an employer, referred or classified for employment by any employment agency or labor organization, or admitted to membership or classified by any labor organization, or admitted to, or employed in, any apprenticeship or other training program, in comparison with the total number of percentage of persons of such race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in any community, State, section, or other area, or in the available work force in any community, State, section, or other area.

other unlawful employment practices

Sec. 704. (a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any of his employees or applicants for employment, for an employment agency to discriminate against an individual, or for a labor organization to discriminate against any member thereof or applicant for membership, because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by this title, or because he has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this title.

(b) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer, labor organization, or employment agency to print or publish or cause to be printed or published any notice or advertisement relating to employment by such an employer or membership in or any classification or referral for employment by such labor organization, or relating to any classification or referral for employment by such an employment agency, indicating any preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination, based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, except that such a notice or advertisement may indicate preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination, based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification for employment.

¹⁰ 29 U.S.C.A. § 206(d).

equal employment opportunity commission

Sec. 705. (a) There is hereby created a Commission to be known as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which shall be composed of five members, not more than three of whom shall be members of the same political party, who shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. One of the original members shall be appointed for a term of one year, one for a term of two years, one for a term of three year, one for a term of four years, one for a term of five years, beginning from the date of enactment of this title, but their successors shall be appointed for terms of five years, except that any individual chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of the member whom he shall succeed. The President shall designate one member to serve as Chairman of the Commission, and one member to serve as Vice Chairman. The Chairman shall be responsible on behalf of the Commission for the administrative operations of the Commissions, and shall appoint, in accordance with the civil service laws, such officers, agents, attorneys, and employees as it deems necessary to assist it in the performance of its functions and to fix their compensation in accordance with the Classification Act of 1949, as amended. The Vice Chairman shall act as Chairman in the absence or disability of the Chairman or in the event of a vacancy in that office.

(b) A vacancy in the Commission shall not impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all the powers of the Commission and three members thereof shall constitute a quorum.

(c) The Commission shall have an official seal which shall be judicially noticed.

(d) The Commission shall at the close of each fiscal year report to the Congress and to the President concerning the action it has taken; the names, salaries, and duties of all individuals in its employ and the moneys it has disbursed; and shall make such further reports on the cause of and means of eliminating discrimination and such recommendations for further legislation as may appear desirable.

(e) The Federal Executive Pay Act of 1956, as amended (5 U.S.C. 2201–2209),¹¹ is further amended—

(1) by adding to section 105 thereof (5 U.S.C. 2204) the following clause:

"(32) Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission"; and

(2) by adding to clause (45) of section 106(a) thereof (5 U.S.C. 2205(a)) the following: "Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (4)."

(f) The principal office of the Commission shall be in or near the District of Columbia, but it may meet or exercise any or all its powers at any other place. The Commission may establish such regional or State offices as it deems necessary to accomplish the purpose of this title.

(g) The Commission shall have power—

(1) to cooperate with and, with their consent, utilize regional State, local, and other agencies, both public and private, and individuals;

(2) to pay to witnesses whose depositions are taken, or who are summoned before the Commission or any of its agents the same witness and mileage fees as are paid to witnesses in the courts of the United States;

(3) to furnish to persons subject to this title such technical assistance as they may request to further their compliance with this title or an order issued thereunder;

(4) upon the request of (i) any employer, whose employees or some of them, or (ii) any labor organization, whose members or some of them, refuse or threaten to refuse to cooperate in effectuating the provisions of this title, to assist in such effectuation by conciliation or such other remedial action as is provided by this title;

(5) to make such technical studies as are appropriate to effectuate the purposes and policies of this title and to make the results of such studies available to the public.

(6) to refer matters to the Attorney General with recommendations for intervention in a civil action brought by an aggrieved party under section 706, or for the institution of a civil action by the Attorney General under Section 707, and to advise, consult, and assist the Attorney General on such matters.

(h) Attorneys appointed under this section may, at the direction of the Commission, appear for and represent the Commission in any case in court.

(i) The Commission shall, in any of its educational or promotional activities, cooperate with other departments and agencies in the performance of such educational and promotional activities.

(j) All officers, agents, attorneys, and employees of the Commission shall be subject to the provisions of section 9 of the Act of August 2, 1939, as amended (the Hatch Act), notwithstanding any exemption contained in such section.

¹¹ 5 U.S.C.A. § 2201 et seq.

prevention of unlawful employment practices

Sec. 706 (a) Whenever it is charged in writing under oath by a person claiming to be aggrieved, or a written charge has been filed by a member of the Commission where he has reasonable cause to believe a violation of this title has occurred (and such charge sets for the facts upon which it is based) that an employer, employment agency, or labor organization has engaged in an unlawful employment practice, the Commission shall furnish such employer, employment agency, or labor organization (hereinafter referred to as the "respondent") with a copy of such charge and shall make an investigation of such charge, provided that such charge shall not be made public by the Commission. If the Commission shall determine, after such investigation, that there is reasonable cause to believe that the charge is true, the Commission shall endeavor to eliminate any such alleged unlawful employment practice by informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion. Nothing said or done during and as a part of such endeavors may be made public by the Commission, without the written consent of the parties, or used as evidence in a subsequent proceeding. Any officer or employee of the Commission, who shall make public in any manner whatever any information in violation of this subsection shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year.

(b) In the case of an alleged unlawful employment practice occurring in a State, or political subdivision of a State, which has a State or local law prohibiting the unlawful employment practice alleged and establishing or authorizing a State or local authority to grant or seek relief from such practice or to institute criminal proceedings with respect thereto upon receiving notice thereof, no charge may be filed under subsection (a) by the person aggrieved before the expiration of sixty days after proceedings have been commenced under the State or local law, unless such proceedings have been earlier terminated, provided that such sixty-day period shall be extended to one hundred and twenty days during the first year after the effective date such State or local law. If any requirement for the commencement of such proceedings is imposed by a State or local authority other than a requirement of the filing of a written and signed statement of the facts upon which the proceeding is based, the proceeding shall be deemed to have been commenced for the purposes of this subsection at the time such statement is sent by registered mail to the appropriate State or local authority.

(c) In the case of any charge filed by a member of the Commission alleging an unlawful employment practice occurring in a State or political subdivision of a State, which has a State or local law prohibiting the practice alleged and establishing or authorizing a State or local authority to grant or seek relief from such practice or to institute criminal proceedings with respect thereto upon receiving notice thereof, the Commission shall, before taking ay action with respect to such charge, notify the appropriate State or local officials and, upon request, afford them a reasonable time, but not less than sixty days (provided that such sixty-day period shall be extended to one hundred and twenty days during the first year after the effective day of such State or local law), unless a shorter period is requested, to act under such State or local law to remedy the practice alleged.

(d) A charge under subsection (a) shall be filed within ninety days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred, except that in the case of an unlawful employment practice with respect to which the person aggrieved has followed the procedure set out in subsection (b), such charge shall be filed by the person aggrieved within two hundred and ten days after the alleged unlawful employment practice occurred, or within thirty days after receiving notice that the State or local agency has terminated the proceedings under the State or local law, whichever is earlier, and a copy such charge shall be filed by the Commission with the State or local agency.

(e) If within thirty days after a charge is filed with the Commission or within thirty days after expiration of any period of reference under sub-section (c) (except that in either case such period may be extended to not more than sixty days upon a determination by the Commission that further efforts to secure voluntary compliance are warranted), the Commission has been unable to obtain voluntary compliance with this title, the Commission shall so notify the person aggrieved and a civil action may, within thirty days thereafter, be brought against the respondent named in the charge (1) by person claiming to be aggrieved, or (2) if such charge was filed by a member of the Commission, by any person whom the charge alleges was aggrieved by the alleged unlawful employment practice. Upon application by the complainant and in such circumstances as the court may deem just, the court may appoint an attorney for such complainant and may authorize the commencement of the action without the payment of fees, costs, or security. Upon timely application, the court may, in its discretion, permit the Attorney General to intervene in such civil action if he certifies that the case is of general public importance. Upon request, the court may, in its discretion, stay further proceedings for not more than sixty days pending the termination of State or local proceedings described in subsection (b) or the efforts of the Commission to obtain voluntary compliance.

(f) Each United States district court and each United States court of a place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States shall have jurisdiction of actions brought under this title. Such an action may be brought in any judicial district in the State in which the unlawful employment practice is alleged to have been committed, in judicial district in which the employment records relevant to such practice are maintained and administered, or in the judicial district which the plaintiff would have worked but for the alleged unlawful employment practice, but if the respondent is not found within any such district, such an action may be brought within the judicial district in which the respondent has his principal office. For purposes of sections 1404 and 1406 of title 28 of the United States Code, the judicial district in which the respondent has his principal office shall in all cases be considered a district in which the action might have been brought.

(g) If the court finds that the respondent has intentionally engaged in or is intentionally engaging in an unlawful employment practice charged in the complaint, the court may enjoin the respondent from engaging in such unlawful employment practice, and order such affirmative action as may be appropriate, which may include reinstatement or hiring of employees, with or without back pay (payable by the employer, employment agency, or labor organization, as the case may be, responsible for the unlawful employment practice). Interim earnings or amounts earnable with reasonable diligence by the person or persons discriminated against shall operate to reduce the back pay otherwise allowable. No order of the court shall require the admission or reinstatement of an individual as a member as an employee, or the payment to him of any back pay, if such individual was refused admission, suspended, or expelled or was refused employment or advancement or was suspended or discharged for any reason other than discrimination on account of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin or in violation of section 704(a).

(h) The provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to amend the Judicial Code and to define and limit the jurisdiction of courts sitting in equity, and for other purposes," approved March 23, 1932 (29 U.S.C. 101–115), shall not apply with respect to civil actions brought under this section.

(i) In any case in which an employer, employment agency, or labor organization fails to comply with an order of a court issued a civil action brought under subsection (e), the Commission may commence proceedings to compel compliance with such order.

(j) Any civil action brought under subsection (e) and any proceedings brought under subsection (i) shall be subject to appeal as provided in sections 1291 and 1292, title 28, United States Code.

(k) In any action or proceeding under this title the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the Commission or the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs, and the Commission and the United States shall be liable for costs the same as a private person.

Sec. 707 (a) Whenever the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe of resistance to the full enjoyment of any of the rights secured by this title, and that the pattern or practice is of such a nature and is intended to deny the full exercise of the rights herein described, the Attorney General may bring a civil action in the appropriate district court of the United States by filing with it a complaint (1) signed by him (or in his absence the Acting Attorney General), (2) setting forth facts pertaining to such pattern or practice, and (3) requesting such relief, including an application for a permanent or temporary injunction, restraining order or other order against the person or persons responsible for such pattern or practice, as he deems necessary to insure the full enjoyment of the rights herein described.

(b) The district courts of the United States shall have and shall exercise jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to this section, and in any such proceeding the Attorney General may file with the clerk of such court a request that a court of three judges be convened to hear and determine the case. Such request by the Attorney General shall be accompanied by a certificate that, in his opinion, the case is of general public importance. A copy of the certificate and request for a three-judge court shall be immediately furnished by such clerk to the chief judge of the circuit (or in his absence, the presiding circuit judge of the circuit) in which the case is pending. Upon receipt of such request it shall be the duty of the chief judge of the circuit or the presiding circuit judge, as the case may be, to designate immediately three judges in such circuit, of whom at least one shall be a circuit judge and another of whom shall be a district judge of the court in which the proceeding was instituted, to hear and determine such case, and it shall be the duty of the judges so designated to assign the case for hearing at the earliest practicable date, to participate in the hearing and determination thereof, and to cause the case to be in every way expedited. An appeal from the final judgment of such court will lie to the Supreme Court.

In the event the Attorney General fails to file such a request in any such proceeding, it shall be the duty of the chief judge of the district (or in his absence, the acting chief judge) in which the case is pending immediately to designate a judge in such district to hear and determine the case. In the event that no judge in the district is available to hear and determine the case, the chief judge of the district, or the acting chief judge, as the case may be, shall certify this fact to the chief judge of the circuit (or in his absence, the acting chief judge) who shall then designate a district or circuit judge of the circuit to hear and determine the case.

It shall be the duty of the judge designated pursuant to this section to assign the case of hearing at the earliest practicable date and to cause the case to be in every way expedited.

effect on state laws

Sec. 708. Nothing in this title shall be deemed to exempt or relieve any person from any liability, duty, penalty, or punishment provided by any present or future law of any State or political subdivision of a State, other than any such law which purports to require or permit the doing of any act which would be an unlawful employment practice under this title.

investigations, inspections, records, state agencies

Sec. 709 (a) In connection with any investigation of a charge filed under section 706, the Commission or its designated representative shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purposes of examination, and the right to copy any evidence of any person being investigated or proceeded against that relates to unlawful employment practices covered by this title and is relevant to the charge under investigation.

(b) The Commission may cooperate with State and local agencies charged with the administration of State fair employment practices laws and, with the consent of such agencies, may for the purpose of carrying out its functions and duties under this title and within the limitation of funds appropriated specifically for such purpose, utilize the services of such agencies and their employees and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, may reimburse such agencies and their employees for services rendered to assist the Commission in carrying out this title. In furtherance of such cooperative efforts, the Commission may enter into written agreements with such State or local agencies and such agreements may include provisions under which the Commission shall refrain from processing a charge in any cases or class of cases specified in such agreements and under which no person may bring a civil action under section 706 in any cases or class of cases specified, or under which the Commission shall relieve any person or class of persons in such State or locality from requirements imposed under this section. The Commission shall rescind any such agreement whenever it determines that the agreement no longer serves the interest of effective enforcement of this title.

(c) Except as provided in subsection (d), every employer, employment agency, and labor organization subject to this title shall (1) make and keep such records relevant to the determinations of whether unlawful employment practices have been or are being committed, (2) preserve such records for such periods, and (3) make such reports therefrom, as the Commission shall prescribe by regulation or order, after public hearing, as reasonable, necessary, or appropriate for the enforcement of this title or the regulations or orders thereunder. The Commission shall, by regulation, require each employer, labor organization, and joint labormanagement committee subject to this title which controls and apprenticeship or other training program to maintain such records as are reasonably necessary to carry out the purpose of this title, including, but not limited to, a list of applicants who wish to participate in such program, including the chronological order in which such applications were received, and shall furnish to the Commission, upon request, a detailed description of the manner in which persons are selected to participate in the apprenticeship or other training program. Any employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee which believes that the application to it of any regulation or order issued under this section would result in undue hardship may (1) apply to the Commission for an exemption from the application of such regulation or order, or (2) bring a civil action in the United States district court for the district where such records are kept. If the Commission or the court, as the case may be, finds that the application of the regulation or order to the employer, employment agency, and labor organization in question would impose an undue hardship, the Commission or the court, as the case may be, may grant appropriate relief.

(d) The provisions of subsection (c) shall not apply to any employer, employment agency, and labor organization, or joint labor-management committee with respect to matters occurring in any State or political subdivision thereof which has a fair employment practice law during any period in which such employer, employment agency, and labor organization, or joint labormanagement committee keeps or is required to keep as are necessary because of differences in coverage or methods of enforcement between the State or local law and the provisions of this title. Where an employer is required by Executive Order 10925, issued March, 6, 1961, or by any other Executive order prescribing fair employment practices for Government contractors and subcontractors, or by rules or regulations issued thereunder, to file reports relating to his employment practices with any Federal agency or committee, and he substantially in compliance with such requirements, the Commission shall not require him to file additional reports pursuant to subsection (c) of this section.

(e) It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the Commission to make public in any manner whatever any information obtained by the Commission pursuant to its authority under this section prior to the institution of any proceeding under this title involving such information. Any officer or employee of the Commission who shall make public in any manner whatever any information in violation of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than one year.

investigatory powers

Sec. 710 (a) For the purposes of any investigation of a charge filed under the authority contained in section 706, the Commission shall have authority to examine witnesses under oath and to require the production of documentary evidence relevant or material to the charge under investigation.

(b) If the respondent named in a charge filed under section 706 fails or refuses to comply with a demand of the Commission for permission to examine or to copy evidence in conformity with the provisions of section 709 (a), or if any person required to comply with the provisions of section 709 (c) or (d) fails or refuse to do so, or if any person fails or refuses to comply with a demand by the Commission to give testimony under oath, the United States district court for the district in which such person is found, resides, or transacts business, shall, upon application of the Commission have jurisdiction to issue to such person an order requiring him to comply with the provisions of section 709 (c) or (d) or to comply with the demand of the Commission, but the attendance of a witness may not be required outside the State where he is found, resides, or transacts business and the production of evidence may not be required outside the State where such evidence is kept.

(c) Within twenty days after the service upon any person charged under section 706 of a demand by the Commission for the production of documentary evidence or for permission to examine or to copy evidence in conformity with the provisions of section 709(a), such person may file in the district court of the United States for the judicial district in which he resides, is found, or transacts business, and serve upon the Commission a petition for an order of such court modifying or setting aside such demand. The time allowed for compliance with the demand in whole or in part as deemed proper and ordered by the court shall not run during the pendency of such petition in the court. Such petition shall specify each ground upon which the petitioner relies in seeking such relief, and may be based upon any failure of such demand to comply with the provisions of this title or with the limitations generally applicable to compulsory process or upon any constitutional or other legal right or privilege of such person. No objection which is not raised by such a petition may be urged in the defense to a proceeding initiated by the Commission under subsection (b) for enforcement of such a demand unless such proceeding is commenced by the Commission prior to the expiration of the twenty-day period, or unless the court determines that the defendant could not reasonably have been aware of the availability of such ground of objection.

(d) In any proceeding brought by the Commission under subsection (b), except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, the defendant may petition the court for an order modifying or setting aside the demand of the Commission.

notices to be posted

Sec. 711. (a) Every employer, employment agency, labor organization, as the case may be, shall post and keep posted in conspicuous places upon its premises where notices to employees, applicants for employment, and members are customarily posted a notice to be prepared or approved by the Commission setting forth excerpts from or, summaries of, the pertinent provisions of this title and information pertinent to the filing of a complaint.

(b) A willful violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $100 for each separate offense.

veterans' preference

Sec. 712. Nothing contained in this title shall be construed to repeal or modify any Federal, State, territorial, or local law creating special rights or preference for veterans.

rules and regulations

Sec. 713. (a) The Commission shall have authority from time to time to issue, amend, or rescind suitable procedural regulations to carry out the provisions of this title. Regulations issued under this section shall be in conformity with the standards and limitations of the Administrative Procedure Act.

(b) In any action or proceeding based on any alleged unlawful employment practice, no person shall be subject to any liability or punishment for or on account of (1) the commission by such person of unlawful employment practice if he pleads and proves that the act or omission complained of was in good faith, in conformity with, and in reliance on any written interpretation or opinion of the Commission, or (2) the failure of such person to publish and file any information required by any provision of this title if he pleads and proves that he failed to publish and file such information in good faith, in conformity with the instructions of the Commission issued under this title regarding the filing of such information. Such a defense, if established, shall be a bar to the action or proceeding, notwithstanding that (A) after such act or omission, such interpretation or opinion is modified or rescinded or is determined by judicial authority to be invalid or of no legal effect, or (B) after publishing or filing the description and annual reports, such publication or filing is determined by judicial authority not to be in conformity with the requirements of this title.

forcibly resisting the commission or its representatives

Sec. 714. The provisions of section 111, title 18, United States Code, shall apply to officers, agents, and employees of the Commission in the performance of their official duties.

special study by secretary of labor

Sec. 715. The Secretary of Labor shall make a full and complete study of the factors which might tend to result in discrimination in employment because of age and of the consequences of such discrimination on the economy and individuals affected. The Secretary of Labor shall make a report to the Congress not later than June 30, 1965, containing the results of such study and shall include in such report such recommendations for legislation to prevent arbitrary discrimination in employment because of age as he determines advisable.

effective date

Sec. 716. (a) This title shall become effective one year after the date of its enactment.

(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), sections of this title other than sections 703, 704, 706, and 707 shall become effective immediately.

(c) The President shall, as soon as feasible after the enactment of this title, convene one or more conferences for the purposes of enabling the leaders of groups whose members will be affected by this title to become familiar with the rights afforded and obligations imposed by its provisions, and for the purpose of making plans which will result in the fair and effective administration of this title when all of its provisions become effective. The President shall invite the participation in such conference or conferences of (1) the members of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, (2) the members of the Commission on Civil Rights, (3) representatives of State and local agencies engaged in furthering equal employment opportunity, (4) representatives of private agencies engaged in furthering equal employment opportunity, and (5) representatives of employers, labor organizations, and employment agencies who will be subject to this title.

TITLE VIII—REGISTRATION AND VOTING STATISTICS

Sec. 801. The Secretary of Commerce shall promptly conduct a survey to compile registration and voting statistics in such geographic areas as may be recommended by the Commission on Civil Rights. Such a survey and compilation shall, to the extent recommended by the Commission on Civil Rights, only include a count of persons of voting age by race, color, and national origin, and determination of the extent to which such persons are registered to vote, and have voted in any statewide primary or general election in which the Members of the United States House of Representatives are nominated or elected, since January 1, 1960. Such information shall also be collected and compiled in connection with the Nineteenth Decennial Census, and at such other times as the Congress may prescribe. The provisions of section 9 and chapter 7 of title 13, United States Code, shall apply to any survey, collection, or compilation of registration and voting statistics carried out under this title: Provided, however, That no person shall be compelled to disclose his race, color, and national origin, or questioned about his political party affiliation, how he voted, or the reasons therefore, nor shall any penalty be imposed for his failure or refusal to make such disclosure. Every person interrogated orally, by written survey or questionnaire or by any other means with respect to such information shall be fully advised with respect to his right to fail or refuse to furnish such information.

TITLE IX—INTERVENTION AND PROCEDURE AFTER REMOVAL IN CIVIL RIGHTS CASES

Sec. 901. Title 28 of the United States Code, section 1447(d)¹² is amended to read as follows:

"An order remanding a case to the State court from which it was removed is not reviewable on appeal or otherwise, except that an order remanding a case to the State court from which it was removed pursuant to section 1443 of this title shall be reviewable by appeal or otherwise."

Sec. 902. Whenever an action has been commenced in any court of the United States seeking relief from the denial of equal protection of the laws under the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution on account of race, color, and national origin, the Attorney General for or in the name of the United States may intervene in such action upon timely application if the Attorney General certifies that the case is of general public importance. In such action the United States shall be entitled to the same relief as if it had instituted the action.

TITLE X—ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE

Sec. 1001. (a) There is hereby established in and as a part of the Department of Commerce a Community Relations Service (hereinafter referred to as the "Service"), which shall be headed by a Director who shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate for a term of four years. The Director is authorized to appoint, subject to the civil service laws and regulations, such other personnel as may be necessary to enable the Service to carry out its functions and duties, and to fix their compensation in accordance with the Classification, Act of 1949, as amended. The Director is further authorized to procure services as authorized by section 15 of the Act of August 2, 1946 (60 Stat. 810; 5 U.S.C. 55(a)), but at rates for individuals not in excess of $75 per diem.

(b) Section 106(a) of the Federal Executive Pay Act of 1956, as amended (5 U.S.C. 2205(a))¹³ is further amended by adding the following clause thereto:

"(52) Director, Community Relations Service."

¹² 28 U.S.C.A. § 1447(d).

¹³ 5 U.S.C.A. § 2205(a).

Sec. 1002. It shall be the function of the Service to provide assistance to communities and persons therein in resolving disputes, disagreements, or difficulties relating to discriminatory practices based on race, color, and national origin which impair the rights of persons in such communities under the Constitution or laws of the United States or which affect interstate commerce. The Service may offer its services in cases of such disputes, disagreements, or difficulties whenever, in its judgment, peaceful relations among the citizens of the community involved are threatened thereby, and it may offer its services either upon its own motion or upon the request of an appropriate State or local official or other interested person.

Sec. 1003. (a) The Service shall, whenever possible, in performing its function, seek and utilize the cooperation of appropriate State or local, public, or private agencies.

(b) The activities of all officers and employees of the Service in providing conciliation assistance shall be conducted in confidence and without publicity, and the Service shall hold confidential any information acquired in the regular performance of its duties upon the understanding it would be so held. No officer or employee of the Service shall engage in the performance of investigative or prosecuting functions of any department or agency in any litigation arising out of a dispute in which he acted on behalf of the Service. Any officer or other employee of the Service, who shall make public in any manner whatever any information in violation of this subsection, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year.

Sec. 1004. Subject to the provisions of sections 205 and 1003(b) the Director shall, on or before January 31 of each year, submit to the Congress a report of the activities of the Service during the preceding fiscal year.

TITLE XI—MISCELLANEOUS

Sec. 1101. In any proceeding for criminal contempt arising under title II, III, IV, V, VI, VII of this Act, the accused, upon demand therefor, shall be entitled to a trial by jury, which shall conform as near as may be to the practice in criminal cases. Upon conviction, the accused shall not be fined more than $1,000 or imprisoned for more than six months.

This section shall not apply to contempts committed in the presence of the court, or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, nor to the misbehavior, misconduct, or disobedience of any officer of the court in respect to writs, orders, or process of the court. No person shall be convicted of criminal contempt hereunder unless the act or omission constituting such contempt shall have been intentional, as required in other cases of criminal contempt.

Nor shall anything herein be construed to deprive courts of their power, by civil contempt proceedings, without a jury, to secure compliance with or to prevent obstruction of, as distinguished from punishment for violations of, any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of the court in accordance with the prevailing usages of law and equity, including the power of detention.

Sec. 1102. No person should be put twice in jeopardy under the laws of the United States for the same act or omission. For this reason, an acquittal or conviction in a prosecution for a specific crime under the laws of the United States shall bar a proceeding for criminal contempt, which is based upon the same act or omission and which arises under the provisions of this Act; and an acquittal or conviction in a proceeding for criminal contempt, which arises under the provisions of this Act, shall bar a prosecution for a specific crime under the laws of the United States based upon the same act or omission.

Sec. 1103. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise affect any right or authority of the Attorney General or of the United States or any agency or officer thereof under existing law to institute or intervene in any action or proceeding.

Sec. 1104. Nothing contained in any title of this Act shall be construed as indicating an intent on the part of Congress to occupy the field in which any such title operates to the exclusion of State laws on the same subject matter, nor shall any provision of this Act be construed as invalidating any provision of State law unless such provision is inconsistent with any of the purposes of this Act, or any provision thereof.

Sec. 1105. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Sec. 1106. If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application of the provision to other persons not similarly situated or to other circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

Approved July 2, 1964.

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. The enthusiasm that greets them is partly the result of a clever marketing campaign—one of the first of its kind—but it also has a great deal to do with the sheer talent and charm exerted by the four. In their 9 February Ed Sullivan Show performance, they break a record set seven years earlier by their idol Elvis Presley, with 70 million viewers, or roughly 60 percent of the U.S. audience.
• 1964: In Mississippi, civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Cheney are murdered. Twenty-one conspirators are arrested, and seven are convicted by a federal jury.
• 1964: U.S. Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Johnson broad powers to prosecute the by now rapidly escalating war in Vietnam.
• 1967: The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band tops the list of releases for a year that will long be remembered as a high point of rock history. Among the other great musical events of the year are releases by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Doors, and Jefferson Airplane; also, the Monterey Pop Festival marks the debut of Hendrix and Janis Joplin.
• 1968: The Reverend Martin Luther King is assassinated on 4 April. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated on 6 June.
• 1969: On 20 July, assisted by pilot Michael Collins, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon.
• 1974: On 30 July, the House Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment for President Nixon, but rather than undergo a lengthy trial, Nixon on 8 August becomes the first president in U.S. history to resign. His successor, Gerald Ford, pardons him in September.
• 1979: After years of unrest, the Shah of Iran leaves the country, and Islamic fundamentalist revolutionaries under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini take control. Later in the year, militants seize control of the U.S. embassy in Teheran and take more than 50 Americans hostage.

Event and Its Context

Origins of the Civil Rights Act

The Civil Rights Act emerged as the result of four principal factors. The first was the economic plight of African Americans, who historically had been underrepresented in professional fields and even in jobs that required little or no education. In 1964 the median income of black families was half that of white families, and blacks were only half as likely as whites to work in white-collar jobs as opposed to blue-collar and service jobs.

The second factor was the civil rights movement of the 1950s and early 1960s, which pricked the conscience of the American public. Television brought into American living rooms the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, which had been sparked by Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger; the sit-ins led by students at North Carolina A&T College to protest segregation at lunch counters in that state in 1960; the 1963 clashes between civil rights demonstrators and police, who brutally dispersed crowds with dogs and fire hoses in Birmingham, Alabama; the 28 August 1963 March on Washington, where 200,000 participants gathered for Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech; and, that same year, the federalization of the Alabama National Guard to thwart Governor George Wallace in his effort to block the enrollment of African Americans at the University of Alabama. In response to these momentous events, President John F. Kennedy, who had earlier been lukewarm in his support for civil rights legislation, appeared on national television on 11 June 1963 to make an "appeal to conscience" to the American people and urge the passage of a civil rights law. A week later he sent a sweeping civil rights bill to Congress, legislation that went far beyond bills introduced in 1957 and 1960.

The third factor leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act was Kennedy's death at the hands of an assassin on 22 November 1963. In the minds of many Americans, including his successor, Lyndon Johnson, a civil rights bill would be the most fitting eulogy to the slain president—which leads to the fourth factor, the political conversion of Johnson. As Senate majority leader from Texas, Johnson had joined many southern members of Congress to oppose civil rights legislation. Indeed, during the Senate debate on the Civil Rights Act, many of Johnson's words would be thrown back in his face. It may never be clear whether Johnson, ever the consummate politician, just wanted to be on the right side of a change that he saw as inevitable, or whether he had a genuine change of heart; ultimately the distinction may be unimportant. What is important is that Johnson became an avid supporter of civil rights, declaring in his first state of the union address, "Let this session of Congress be known as the session which did more for civil rights than the last hundred sessions combined."

The Congressional Debate

Passage of the Civil Rights Act was complex. The Senate debate lasted 80 days and filled 7,000 pages with 10 million words in the Congressional Record. This included the longest filibuster in Senate history and occasioned the rare invocation of an obscure Senate procedure called cloture, which put an end to the filibuster and limited debate.

Debate on President Kennedy's bill began in the House of Representatives on 31 January 1964. House leaders from both parties were determined to pass the bill, so they curtailed debate and strong-armed it through on 10 February by a vote of 290 to 130. The bill's first real hurdle should have been the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the committee's chairman, Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, was an opponent of civil rights legislation. To bypass the committee, from which the bill might never have emerged (confirming Woodrow Wilson's wry view that in going to committee, a bill crossed "a parliamentary bridge of sighs to dim dungeons of silence whence it will never return"), Democratic senator Mike Mansfield of Montana introduced it directly to the floor of the Senate. Mansfield's motion met vigorous opposition, even from many supporters of the bill, who squirmed at the notion of violating procedure. The motion, however, passed, and the bill was placed on the Senate's calendar. To ensure bipartisan support, Democrat Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, the majority whip, and Republican Thomas Kuchel of California, the minority whip, managed the process. Additionally, detailed discussion on the floor of each piece of the bill was assigned to pairs of Democratic and Republican senators.

Predictably, the bill met stiff opposition from most southern senators, who filibustered it. In an unusual move, supporters took part in the filibuster, presenting their case for the bill, interrupting their opponents, and even sharply questioning them. To break the filibuster, Senate leaders concluded that they had to recruit the support of minority leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, who had reservations about some provisions of the bill. Accordingly, the leadership, with the help of the U.S. attorney general and other members of the Justice Department, negotiated the so-called Mansfield-Dirksen substitute, a compromise bill that softened the House version (by, for example, giving state agencies the opportunity to act before the federal government in cases of employment discrimination) but retained its most crucial features. In the debate that followed the introduction of the substitute bill, southern senators introduced amendment after amendment, all but two of which were defeated. They also called for a record 34 roll-call votes in one day. Their rear-guard action was futile, however, and the Senate overwhelmingly voted to replace the House bill with the Mansfield-Dirksen substitute. On 19 June the Senate passed this version of the bill by a vote of 73 to 27 and then sent it back to the House. With little debate or fanfare the House, by a vote of 289 to 126, passed the Senate version of the bill. President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law the same day, 2 July 1964.

The Major Provisions of the Civil Rights Act

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 consists of 11 titles, the most important of which are Titles II, VI, and VII.

Title II bars discrimination in places of public accommodation, as did the Civil Rights Act of 1875; the earlier act, however, depended for its enforcement powers on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Although the amendment guaranteed citizens due process and equal protection under the law, the courts in intervening years had interpreted it to apply only to state action, not to the actions of private citizens or individual business enterprises. In contrast, the teeth of Title II was the power of Congress to regulate commerce granted in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which the courts had been interpreting expansively in recent years. Under Title II, Congress could extend to private action its authority to prohibit discrimination.

Title VI relies on the taxing and spending power of Congress to ban discrimination in federally funded programs. To labor, the most important part of the Civil Rights Act is Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in employment practices byemployers, labor unions, and employment agencies based on race, color, religion, national origin, or gender in any industry that affects commerce. Past efforts to eliminate employment discrimination had been piecemeal and ineffective. In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt, by executive order, created the Fair Employment Practice Committee to combat job discrimination by defense contractors. In 1948 President Harry Truman, again by executive order, created the Fair Employment Board within the Civil Service Commission to promote equal opportunity in federal employment. Johnson himself established the Office of Federal Contract Compliance in the Department of Labor with the goal of putting an end to racial discrimination at the work sites of contractors and subcontractors performing federally funded projects. These efforts, however, tended to be more symbolic than substantive. The Civil Rights Act was the first effort by Congress to bring to bear the full power of the federal government to enforce equal opportunity in employment throughout the economy. Like Title II, Title VII relies on the commerce clause to regulate the actions of private employers rather than being bound by the state action limitation implicit in the Fourteenth Amendment.

Congress vested authority for enforcing Title VII in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which began operations on 2 July 1965. In addition, the EEOC enforces the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. With over 2,500 employees in 50 field offices and a budget of approximately $300 million, the EEOC for the 10 years ending with fiscal year (FY) 2001 received an average of just over 59,000 complaints a year, about half of which were found to be without cause. Generally, charges are filed by individuals who believe they have been the victim of discrimination, but individual commissioners can initiate charges. Until 1972 the EEOC had to refer discrimination cases to the U.S. Justice Department, but the law was amended that year to enable the commission itself to bring suit in federal court against employers for violations of the act. Over the same 10-year period, the commission litigated an average of 226 Title VII suits per year; resulting monetary benefits ranged from $7 million in FY 1993 to a peak of $95 million in FY 1997. Generally, the commission's purpose is to resolve cases that have merit through conciliation and alternative dispute resolution. In FY 1992 the commission awarded monetary benefits of $52.5 million, but by FY 2001 that figure had risen to $141.1 million.

The Role of the Courts

As early as the 1940s, the U.S. Supreme Court had heard cases involving employment discrimination. In Steele v. Louisville and Nashville Railroad (1944), for example, the Court prohibited unions from practicing racial discrimination, and in Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. (1968) it relied on the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to affirm that both blacks and whites have an equal right to contract for work. The Court, however, heard relatively few such cases because whatever protections existed for workers were generally based on state statute, not on the Constitution or federal law.

In the late 1960s the Warren Court allowed lower courts to interpret the 1964 act, but by the early 1970s employment discrimination cases were making their way to the Supreme Court and providing important early tests of the legality not only of the act but of actions taken to implement it. Perhaps one of the most important decisions reached by the Court, then led by Chief Justice Warren Burger, was in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. in 1971. African American employees at the Duke Power Co. in North Carolina challenged the company's requirement that both new hires and employees seeking a transfer must have a high school diploma or score a passing grade on an intelligence test. Title VII prohibits any employment practice that discriminates on the basis of race. The power company's requirements adversely affected the employment opportunities of blacks, who faced discrimination in the state's public schools and who graduated from high school at a rate about one-third that of white students. More importantly, the company could not demonstrate a relationship between either the diploma or scores on the intelligence test and job performance. In ruling against the company, the Court noted that employment practices that seem neutral on their face, like those of Duke Power, may have discriminatory effect. Thus, the employees did not have to prove that the intent of the company was to discriminate, only that the consequences of its actions were discriminatory. With regard to diplomas and intelligence tests, the Court concluded that "the touchstone is business necessity. If an employment practice which operates to exclude Negroes cannot be shown to be related to job performance, the practice is prohibited."

Two years later, in 1973, the Court ruled in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green that under Title VII job applicants can make a prima facie case for discrimination by showing that they are members of a racial minority, were denied the job despite adequate qualifications for it, and that the position remained open while the employer sought other applicants with the same qualifications. The Court refined this doctrine in Hazelwood School District v. United States (1977), when it held that a prima facie case of discrimination can be made if a statistical comparison of the racial makeup of an employer's workforce, in this case a school faculty, shows an obvious imbalance relative to the racial makeup of the community that supplies that workforce.

Other cases involving the legality of seniority systems had important consequences for labor unions. In International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States (1977), the Court ruled that a valid seniority system did not violate Title VII, even if the effect of the system is to perpetuate past discrimination against minority truck drivers. In Firefighters Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts (1984) the Court was asked to deal with the collision of seniority systems with affirmative action programs. The Court found that the fire department in Memphis, Tennessee, had violated Title VII, and under court order it instituted an affirmative action plan to hire and promote more blacks to remedy past discrimination. When the city later faced a severe budget deficit, it planned to balance the books by laying off city employees with the least seniority. Stotts, a black firefighter who would have lost his job, filed suit in district court, which enjoined the fire department from adhering strictly to its seniority system. The union appealed to the Supreme Court, and the Burger Court lifted the injunction and once again upheld the legality of a seniority system: "Title VII protects bona fide seniority systems, and it is inappropriate to deny an innocent employee the benefits of his seniority in order to provide a remedy in a pattern or practice [discrimination] suit such as this."

Several other early cases involved affirmative action plans, particularly quotas. One, perhaps the most significant, was United Steelworkers of America v. Weber (1979). The Kaiser Aluminum Corporation and the United Steelworkers, in an effort to head off litigation by black employees, voluntarily negotiated an affirmative action plan to correct a gross imbalance in the number of black skilled craftsmen at a Louisiana plant. The program allotted half the slots in a craft training program to blacks until the imbalance was corrected. Weber, who was white, was denied a slot in the training program and filed suit, arguing that he was the victim of racial discrimination under Title VII, which provided that an employer could not be "required" to give preferential treatment to a racial group because of a racial imbalance in the workforce. Weber won in federal court, but the Burger Court overruled the lower court and upheld the legality of the company's affirmative action program. In reaching its decision, the Court noted that the program was not "required," that it was a voluntary program to eliminate segregation. The Court further noted that the legislative history of the act made clear Congress's intent to allow employers to adopt local, voluntary means to improve the economic condition of minorities: "It would be ironic indeed if a law triggered by a Nation's concern over centuries of racial injustice … constituted the first legislative prohibition on all voluntary, private, race-conscious efforts to abolish traditional patterns of racial segregation and hierarchy."

Key Players

Burger, Warren (1907-1995): Burger was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He left the practice of law when President Eisenhower named him assistant attorney general (1953-1955) and then appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals (1956-1969). President Nixon appointed him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1969, where he served until 1986.

Dirksen, Everett (1896-1969): Dirksen was born in Pekin, Illinois. He served as an Illinois Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives (1933-1951) until election to the Senate, where he rose to Republican whip in 1957 and Republican leader in 1959. He served in the Senate until his death.

Humphrey, Hubert (1911-1978): Humphrey was born in South Dakota and began his career as a pharmacist. He was mayor of Minneapolis (1946-1949) and a Democratic U.S. senator (1949-1964). In 1964 Lyndon Johnson chose Humphrey as his running mate, and he served as vice president until 1969. In 1968 he narrowly lost the presidential election to Richard Nixon.

Johnson, Lyndon Baines (1908-1973): Johnson, born in Stonewall, Texas, entered Democratic politics when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1937, where he served until he was elected to the Senate in 1950. He rose to Democratic whip and Senate majority leader until John Kennedy chose him as his vice-presidential running mate in 1960. He assumed the presidency on Kennedy's death in 1963 and was reelected for one term in 1964. His exemplary record in civil rights was undermined by the escalating war in Vietnam, and he chose not to seek reelection in 1968.

Mansfield, Michael (1903-2001): Born in New York City but raised in Montana, Mansfield left a faculty position at Montana State University to serve as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives (1943-1953), then in the Senate (1953-1977), where he was an outspoken critic of the war in Vietnam. President Jimmy Carter appointed him Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary to Japan (1977-1988).

See also: Age Discrimination in Employment Act; Equal Pay Act; Fair Employment Practice Committee.

Bibliography

Books

Burstein, Paul. Discrimination, Jobs, and Politics: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity in the United States since the New Deal. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.

Graham, Hugh Davis. The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Modjeska, Lee. Handling Employment Discrimination Cases.Rochester, NY: Lawyers Co-operative Pub. Co.; San Francisco, CA: Bancroft-Whitney Co., 1980.

Schwartz, Bernard. Statutory History of the United States: Civil Rights, Part II. New York: Chelsea House, 1970.

Sovern, Michael. Legal Restraints on Racial Discrimination in Employment. New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, 1966.

Other

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [cited 31August 2002]. <http://www.eeoc.gov>.

—Michael J. O'Neal

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Melanie B. Abbott

The years following World War II in the United States brought a period of economic prosperity for many Americans. The economy was strong and workers found themselves able to use their income to pay for new homes and goods and services that had been unheard of for prior generations. Not all U.S. residents, however, shared equally in the prosperity. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, white Americans enjoyed many benefits that were unavailable to people of color. African Americans attempting to vote in local, state, and federal elections faced poll taxes and rigid entry requirements, though their white neighbors had no such barriers. In parts of the United States white people had preferential seating on buses and in movie theaters; water fountains and municipal swimming pools bore signs indicating that their use was restricted by race; and drugstore soda fountains and restaurants refused to serve people of color.

In the same vein, public schools admitted students not on the basis of their residence, but rather on the basis of their race. The education provided in the schools attended by white children was different from that provided to black children. Students of color who wished to attend college had many fewer choices than white students with equal ability. Housing, too, was restricted, both by the refusal of white landlords to rent to black tenants and by the refusal of white homeowners to sell their homes to people of color. As a result, neighborhoods in many parts of the country were segregated.

During the 1950s activists like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began to stage protests against widespread racial discrimination. African American leaders held marches in cities in the South, joined by many Northern supporters, both white and black. Many of these nonviolent protests were met with violent responses, including the use of police dogs, water hoses, and physical abuse of the protesters. Newspapers and magazines covered the confrontations, bringing the struggle to the attention of many Americans who had remained unaware of the extent and severity of racial discrimination.

By the time the presidential election campaign of 1960 began, a national debate on the issue of race discrimination was occurring in the media, schools, and local government chambers. Both national parties made Civil Rights a part of their campaign platforms in 1960. The 1960 Democratic platform said: "The peaceful demonstrations for first-class citizenship which have recently taken place in many parts of the country are a signal to all of us to make good at long last the guarantees of our Constitution.... The time has come to assure equal access for all Americans to all areas of community life." The Republican platform stated, "We pledge the full use of the power, resources, and leadership of the Federal Government to eliminate discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin."

Against this backdrop, John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960. Progress on legislation addressing the promises made by both parties was slow. Congress considered legislation to address inequality in public accommodations, but failed to pass it. Legislators tried, but also failed, to pass a widespread Civil Rights law in 1963. Those who argued against the law's passage asserted that the remedies proposed by the law were unconstitutional, in violation of the rights of the states to govern their own affairs, and an impermissible infringement on the rights of business owners to decide for themselves with whom to do business. It was only after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and the swearing-in of Lyndon Johnson in his place, that the legislative tide turned in favor of passage of Civil Rights legislation.

THE ACT'S PROVISIONS

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L. 88–352, 78 Stat. 241) addressed voting rights, desegregation of public facilities, desegregation of public education, and equal employment opportunity. It provided for the extension of the Commission on Civil Rights, the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and mandated that federally assisted programs be nondiscriminatory.

The voting rights provisions of the act stated that for federal elections, persons acting "under color of law" could not apply standards to some voters that were different from those applied to all other voters, and could not use immaterial errors in written applications to bar voters from participating in federal elections. The act also barred the use of literacy tests for some voters but not others and allowed the U.S. attorney general to sue in federal court for violations of these provisions by state officials.

Title II of the act rendered illegal barriers imposed by owners of restaurants, motels, and other public businesses against people of color, stating, "all persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation ... without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin."

Title IV called for the commissioner of education to conduct a survey to determine the extent to which public schools and public colleges were providing equal educational opportunities to all without regard to race, religion, or national origin. It also authorized the attorney general to initiate lawsuits against public educational officials in response to complaints from those who believed they had been deprived of equal educational opportunity.

Title VI provided that discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is illegal in "any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." This section applied to programs in which the federal government provided grants, loans, contracts, or other financial support to other organizations, public or private.

Title VII made it illegal for an employer "to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his terms, conditions or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." Title VII's provisions applied to labor organizations, apprenticeship providers, and employment agencies. The act also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a bipartisan commission, intended to be independent of control by the president or the Congress. Its role has been to investigate and attempt to remedy violations of Title VII. Cases in which the EEOC is unable to reach a satisfactory resolution go on to federal court for judicial proceedings.

IMPORTANT LEGAL EFFECTS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

The Civil Rights Act served to unite in federal law a number of important principles. Primary among these, of course, was the clear statement that discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin was illegal when practiced by public officials or those providing public accommodations. The voter registration drives in the early 1960s had made clear there were substantial barriers to full participation by all Americans in the federal electoral process. By allowing suits for cases in which the attorney general could find a "pattern or practice of discrimination," the act made it possible for black voters to challenge actions by local officials that deprived them of the right to participate equally with white voters.

The 1964 act strengthened earlier laws preventing racial discrimination against black voters and helped lay the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Civil Rights Act's prohibition of discrimination by those providing public accommodations also made possible a giant step in racial equality, preventing most local businesses from refusing service to people of color.

The Equal Employment Opportunity provisions in Title VII have had the most wide ranging, and perhaps unexpected, effects. These provisions certainly served to open opportunities to people of color seeking jobs and training opportunities previously unavailable to them. Manufacturing companies, labor unions, police and fire departments, and innumerable other employers were forced or encouraged to open their doors to applicants of all races and national origins. In addition to those expected results, however, the inclusion of the word "sex" among the prohibited bases of discrimination meant that Title VII has been the focus of considerable attention and analysis long after most of the other provisions in the act have ceased to be noteworthy.

SIGNIFICANCE OF CHANGES IN THE LAW

The Civil Rights Act is well known for the remedies it provided for those routinely discriminated against on the basis of race or national origin. It also, however, made some significant advances in the way courts considered violations of these laws. For example, Title I includes a section making it possible for the U.S. attorney general to request that a three-judge panel of federal judges hear cases brought by persons alleging discrimination against them in connection with voting. This is different from the usual practice, in which a single federal judge hears a case and makes a ruling, which can then be appealed to a three-judge panel of an appellate court. One reason for this change from the standard practice was the concern on the part of those sponsoring the law that some judges and court officials had acted to block access to the courts by people of color seeking to assert their rights. This section also required that federal courts treat voting rights cases as priorities, rather than subjecting them to the usual docketing practices of the courts.

Another significant development in the law is in the connection the act makes between interstate commerce (or state action) and barriers created by owners of public accommodations to prevent people of color from using these facilities. Previously, owners of local pools, hotels, motels, theaters, and other places to which the public is admitted could claim their discriminatory decisions were individually made, motivated by their desire to please the majority of their customers. The Civil Rights Act required that businesses affecting interstate commerce be operated in a nondiscriminatory manner.

The Civil Rights Act did not explicitly make "separate but equal" education illegal; the Supreme Court had taken that step ten years earlier in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Instead, the act incorporated into federal statutory law a requirement that public schools be desegregated, allowing the U.S. attorney general to sue schools that failed to provide equal opportunities for all students and making nondiscrimination a prerequisite to receiving federal financial assistance. Not until after the enactment of the 1964 act were desegregation requirements enforced throughout the country.

Following passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, much of the activity surrounding efforts to integrate facilities of all types moved from the streets to the courts. Lawsuits concerning discrimination in many different settings allowed the courts to define, refine, and apply the provisions of the act. Education was a major arena in which legal action helped to effect desegregation. Though the decision in Brown v. Board of Education predated the Civil Rights Act, the passage of the act provided significant support for efforts of those seeking to open educational institutions to students of color.

Among the most significant post-act decisions was Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978), in which a white student sued the medical school of the University of California, alleging that the school had violated his civil rights by setting aside several seats in the class for members of disadvantaged groups. The Court upheld the state court's decision that the quota system was unlawful, but also held that it was acceptable under the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and under the Civil Rights Act for the school to take race into consideration as one factor in an admissions program seeking educational diversity.

In 1992 the Supreme Court held that a state's obligations under Title VI of the act were not satisfied merely by operating a race-neutral admissions system. In United States v. Fordice (1992), the Court ruled that a formerly segregated public university system must eliminate remnants of the dual system even if those aspects of the program had no discriminatory purpose. The Supreme Court considered race in college admissions most recently in 2003, holding that a quota system for undergraduates of color at the University of Michigan violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but further ruling that race-conscious admissions to the University's Law School were acceptable in pursuit of the goal of racial diversity so long as the University made decisions on an individual basis (Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, both 2003).

Courts have also held that the act requires states operating public recreational facilities, such as pools, parks, and playgrounds, to make those facilities equally available to persons of all races. In Daniel v. Paul (1969), the Court ruled that an amusement park in Arkansas was a "place of public accommodation" covered by the act and therefore could not limit use of its facilities to whites who had paid a twenty-five cent "membership fee." The Court rejected the operator's argument that the park's operation was entirely private, noting the park was advertised in magazines and on broadcast outlets, that it served out-of-state visitors, and that the food sold in the park's snack bar moved in interstate commerce.

Subsequent legislation has further developed and amplified the provisions of the act as they apply to many areas, especially discrimination in housing, which was largely unaddressed by the act. The provisions of Titles II and VII of the act were expanded in 1990 with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) required that the Civil Rights Act's prohibitions against discrimination apply to people with physical and mental disabilities as well. Recognizing that discrimination in employment on the basis of age was a related problem, Congress supplemented Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in 1967 with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The Equal Pay Act of 1963, a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, further supplemented Title VII by prohibiting employers from paying men and women different wages for the same work.

Though much progress has occurred since passage of the Civil Rights Act's passage in 1964, courts and legislatures throughout the country continue to address many difficult issues on a regular basis.

See also: Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990; Civil Rights Act of 1866, 1875, 1957; Equal Pay Act of 1963; Force Act of 1871; Ku Klux Klan Act; Title IX Education Amendment; Voting Rights Act of 1965;

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954–1963. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.

Carson, Clayborne, et al., eds. The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle. New York: Viking Penguin, 1991.

Williams, Juan, Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954–1965. New York: Viking Penguin, 1987.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation

By: Everett Dirksen

Date: July 2, 1964

Source: "Civil Rights Act of 1964." Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78. 2 July 1964. Stat.

About the Author: Republican Senator Everett Dirksen represented the state of Illinois from 1950 until his death in 1969. Elected Senate Minority Leader in 1959, he worked with Lyndon Johnson in the Senate and later with President Johnson in crafting the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

INTRODUCTION

The 1954 United States Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education began the slow but steady path toward desegregated public schools nationwide. Segregation in public settings in the United States—especially the southern states that comprised the former Confederacy—was still a fact of life for black Americans into the 1960s. "Jim Crow" laws, enacted in the late nineteenth century, dictated a strict "color line"—a division of the use of physical facilities and access to services for black and white people in the United States.

Black people living or traveling in the South faced "whites only" sections in restaurants—if they could enter the restaurant at all, segregated drinking fountains, prohibitions on sleeping in hotels, and were often banned from restrooms—even if no other option existed. Medical facilities and ambulances were segregated as well. Real estate agents could—by law—refuse to show homes in "white" neighborhoods to prospective black buyers, and landlords could reject applicants based on race.

Although John F. Kennedy' election to the presidency in1960 initially filled civil rights leaders with hope, by 1963 they expressed concern that he was not doing enough to advance race relations. On June 11, 1963, the president announced his commitment to enforcing the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, and his determination to advance civil rights despite protests that included threats, violence, and at times even murder.

Following Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency and declared that he would continue Kennedy's push for sweeping civil rights legislation. The 1964 Civil Rights Act passed the House by a 290- 130 vote. In spite of serious political problems with southern senators such as South Carolina's Strom Thurmond, the act passed the Senate by a 73-27 vote. The House then approved the Senate version 289-126.

PRIMARY SOURCE

TITLE II—INJUNCTIVE RELIEF AGAINST DISCRIMINATION IN PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION

(a) All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

(b) Each of the following establishments which serves the public is a place of public accommodation within the meaning of this title if its operations affect commerce, or if discrimination or segregation by it is supported by State action:

(1) any inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his residence;

(2) any restaurant, cafeteria, lunchroom, lunch counter, soda fountain, or other facility principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises, including, but not limited to, any such facility located on the premises of any retail establishment; or any gasoline station;

(3) any motion picture house, theater, concert hall, sports arena, stadium or other place of exhibition or entertainment; and

(4) any establishment (A)(i) which is physically located within the premises of any establishment otherwise covered by this subsection, or (ii) within the premises of which is physically located any such covered establishment, and (B) which holds itself out as serving patrons of such covered establishment.

(c) The operations of an establishment affect commerce within the meaning of this title if (1) it is one of the establishments described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b); (2) in the case of an establishment described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b), it serves or offers to serve interstate travelers or a substantial portion of the food which it serves, or gasoline or other products which it sells, has moved in commerce; (3) in the case of an establishment described in paragraph (3) of subsection (b), it customarily presents films, performances, athletic teams, exhibitions, or other sources of entertainment which move in commerce; and (4) in the case of an establishment described in paragraph (4) of subsection (b), it is physically located within the premises of, or there is physically located within its premises, an establishment the operations of which affect commerce within the meaning of this subsection. For purposes of this section, "commerce" means travel, trade, traffic, commerce, transportation, or communication among the several States, or between the District of Columbia and any State, or between any foreign country or any territory or possession and any State or the District of Columbia, or between points in the same State but through any other State or the District of Columbia or a foreign country.

(d) Discrimination or segregation by an establishment is supported by State action within the meaning of this title if such discrimination or segregation (1) is carried on under color of any law, statute, ordinance, or regulation; or (2) is carried on under color of any custom or usage required or enforced by officials of the State or political subdivision thereof; or (3) is required by action of the State or political subdivision thereof.

(e) The provisions of this title shall not apply to a private club or other establishment not in fact open to the public, except to the extent that the facilities of such establishment are made available to the customers or patrons of an establishment within the scope of subsection (b).

SEC. 202. All persons shall be entitled to be free, at any establishment or place, from discrimination or segregation of any kind on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin, if such discrimination or segregation is or purports to be required by any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, rule, or order of a State or any agency or political subdivision thereof….

TITLE III—DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC FACILITIES

(a) Whenever the Attorney General receives a complaint in writing signed by an individual to the effect that he is being deprived of or threatened with the loss of his right to the equal protection of the laws, on account of his race, color, religion, or national origin, by being denied equal utilization of any public facility which is owned, operated, or managed by or on behalf of any State or subdivision thereof, other than a public school or public college as defined in section 401 of title IV hereof, and the Attorney General believes the complaint is meritorious and certifies that the signer or signers of such complaint are unable, in his judgment, to initiate and maintain appropriate legal proceedings for relief and that the institution of an action will materially further the orderly progress of desegregation in public facilities, the Attorney General is authorized to institute for or in the name of the United States a civil action in any appropriate district court of the United States against such parties and for such relief as may be appropriate, and such court shall have and shall exercise jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to this section. The Attorney General may implead as defendants such additional parties as are or become necessary to the grant of effective relief hereunder.

(b) The Attorney General may deem a person or persons unable to initiate and maintain appropriate legal proceedings within the meaning of subsection (a) of this section when such person or persons are unable, either directly or through other interested persons or organizations, to bear the expense of the litigation or to obtain effective legal representation; or whenever he is satisfied that the institution of such litigation would jeopardize the personal safety, employment, or economic standing of such person or persons, their families, or their property.

SEC. 302. In any action or proceeding under this title the United States shall be liable for costs, including a reasonable attorney's fee, the same as a private person.

SEC. 303. Nothing in this title shall affect adversely the right of any person to sue for or obtain relief in any court against discrimination in any facility covered by this title.

TITLE IV—DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION DEFINITIONS

As used in this title—

(a) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Education.

(b) "Desegregation" means the assignment of students to public schools and within such schools without regard to their race, color, religion, or national origin, but "desegregation" shall not mean the assignment of students to public schools in order to overcome racial imbalance.

(c) "Public school" means any elementary or secondary educational institution, and "public college" means any institution of higher education or any technical or vocational school above the secondary school level, provided that such public school or public college is operated by a State, subdivision of a State, or governmental agency within a State, or operated wholly or predominantly from or through the use of governmental funds or property, or funds or property derived from a governmental source.

(d) "School board" means any agency or agencies which administer a system of one or more public schools and any other agency which is responsible for the assignment of students to or within such system.

SIGNIFICANCE

Southern Democrats spent eighty-three days filibustering the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In the end it passed with overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress. The act protects Americans from race- and gender-based discrimination; Representative Howard W. Smith added this prohibition in spite of his opposition to civil rights for blacks. This act divided parties along geographic lines; Johnson knew going into the battle that he could cause damage to his own party, the Democrats, which had been opposed to broader rights for African Americans since the post-Civil War period, when Democrats often backed Ku Klux Klan activities and suppressed the black vote.

The 1964 Civil Rights act mandated desegregation in all public schools and approved federal power to enforce it; desegregation of all public venues such as restaurants, theaters, public transportation, rest-rooms, drinking fountains, gas stations, hotels, and sporting arenas. In addition, the act prohibited discrimination on the basis of "race, color, religion, or national origin" as well as sex. The act strengthened voter rights, but did not abolish such roadblocks as literacy tests for African Americans. Congress went on to remove such obstacles with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Worker protection, backed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was a central part of the 1964 legislation as well. By granting the ability to file grievances and lawsuits against companies that violated the new law, African Americans and women legally gained standing in the courts when faced with labor discrimination.

The act invalidated a wide range of Jim Crow laws overnight and passed the Supreme Court test of constitutionality. Discrimination in government, education, employment, public accommodations, and housing became a federal crime. But society did not change so quickly, and enforcement often involved federal authority to gain compliance, part of a slow shift toward greater freedoms for African Americans and women.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Dudziak, Mary L. Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002.

Klarman, Michael J. From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality. Oxford University Press, USA, 2004.

Rosenberg, Jonathan, and Zachary Karabell. Kennedy, Johnson, and the Quest for Justice: The Civil Rights Tapes. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003.

Web sites

John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. "Radio and Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights." 〈http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03CivilRights06111963.htm〉 (accessed April 9, 2006).

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. Congressional concern for civil rights diminished with the end of Reconstruction and the Supreme Court's 1883 decision in the Civil Rights Cases holding the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional. In 1957, Congress, under pressure from the civil rights movement, finally returned to the issue. However, the congressional response was a modest statute creating the Civil Rights Commission with power to investigate civil rights violations but not to enforce civil rights laws and establishing a feeble remedy for voting rights violations. The Civil Rights Act of 1960 slightly strengthened the voting rights provision.

During his campaign for the presidency in 1960, John F. Kennedy drew support from African Americans by promising to support civil rights initiatives. Once elected, Kennedy was reluctant to expend his political resources on civil rights programs he considered less important than other initiatives. Increasing civil rights activism, including sit-ins at food counters that refused service to African Americans, led Kennedy to propose a new civil rights act in May 1963. Kennedy lacked real enthusiasm for the proposal, which he saw as a necessary concession to the important constituency of African Americans in the Democratic Party. The bill languished in the House of Representatives until after Kennedy's assassination, when President Lyndon B. Johnson adopted the civil rights proposal as his own, calling it a memorial to Kennedy. Johnson had sponsored the 1957 act as part of his campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1960. Although Johnson was sincerely committed to civil rights, he had not allayed suspicion among liberal Democrats that he lacked such a commitment, and his support for the civil rights bill helped him with that constituency as well.

Johnson demonstrated the depth of his commitment through extensive efforts to secure the act's passage. The act passed the House in February 1964 with overwhelming bipartisan support, but southern senators opposed to the bill mounted the longest filibuster on record to that date. Senate rules required a two-thirds vote to end a filibuster, which meant Johnson had to get the support of a majority of Republicans. He negotiated extensively with Senator Everett Dirksen, the Senate's Republican leader, appealing to Dirksen's patriotism and sense of fairness. Dirksen extracted some small compromises, and with Republican support for Johnson, the filibuster ended. Within two weeks, the statute passed by a vote of 73–27.

The 1964 act had eleven main provisions or titles. Several strengthened the Civil Rights Commission and the voting rights provisions of the 1957 and 1960 acts, including a provision authorizing the U.S. attorney general to sue states that violated voting rights. But the act's other provisions were far more important. They dealt with discrimination in public accommodations and employment and with discrimination by agencies, both public and private, that received federal funds.

Title II

Title II banned racial discrimination in places of public accommodation, which were defined broadly to include almost all of the nation's restaurants, hotels, and theaters. These provisions were directed at the practices the sit-ins had protested, and to that extent they were the center of the act. The Civil Rights Cases (1883) held that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give Congress the power to ban discrimination by private entities. By 1964, many scholars questioned that holding and urged Congress to rely on its power to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment to justify the Civil Rights Act. Concerned about the constitutional question, the administration and Congress re-lied instead on the congressional power to regulate inter-state commerce. The hearings leading up to the statute's enactment included extensive testimony about the extent to which discrimination in hotels and restaurants deterred African Americans from traveling across the country. The Supreme Court, in Katzenbach v. McClung (1964) and Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964), had no difficulty upholding the public accommodations provisions against constitutional challenge, relying on expansive notions of congressional power to regulate interstate commerce that had become settled law since the New Deal. Although compliance with Title II was not universal, it was quite widespread, as operators of hotels and restaurants quickly understood that they would not lose money by complying with the law.

Title VII

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in employment. Representative Howard Smith, a conservative Democrat from Virginia, proposed an amendment that expanded the groups protected against discrimination to include women. A similar proposal had been rattling around Congress for many years. The idea was opposed by many labor unions and some advocates of women's rights, who were concerned that banning discrimination based on sex imperiled laws that they believed protected women against undesirable work situations. Representative Smith, who before 1964 supported banning discrimination based on sex, hoped the amendment would introduce divisions among the act's proponents. His strategy failed, and the final act included a ban on discrimination based on sex.

Lawsuits invoking Title VII were soon filed in large numbers. The Supreme Court's initial interpretations of the act were expansive. The Court, in Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971), held that employers engaged in prohibited discrimination not simply when they deliberately refused to hire African Americans but also when they adopted employment requirements that had a "disparate impact," that is, requirements that were easier for whites to satisfy. The Court's decision made it substantially easier for plaintiffs to show that Title VII had been violated because showing that a practice has a disparate impact is much easier than showing that an employer intentionally discriminated on the basis of race. The Court also allowed cases to proceed when a plaintiff showed no more than that he or she was qualified for the job and that the position remained open after the plaintiff was denied it, such as in McDonnell Douglas v. Green (1973). In United Steel-workers of America v. Weber (1971), the Court rejected the argument that affirmative action programs adopted voluntarily by employers amounted to racial discrimination.

Later Supreme Court decisions were more restrictive. After the Court held that discrimination based on pregnancy was not discrimination based on sex in General Electric Company v. Gilbert (1976), Congress amended the statute to clarify that such discrimination was unlawful. Another amendment expanded the definition of discrimination based on religion to include a requirement that employers accommodate the religious needs of their employees. The Court further restricted Title VII in several decisions in 1989, the most important of which, Ward's Cove Packing Company, Inc., v. Atonio (1989), allowed employers to escape liability for employment practices with a disparate impact unless the plaintiffs could show that the practices did not serve "legitimate employment goals." These decisions again provoked a response in Congress. President George H. W. Bush vetoed the first bill that emerged from Congress, calling it a "quota bill." In Bush's view it gave employers incentives to adopt quotas to avoid being sued. Congressional supporters persisted, and eventually Bush, concerned about the impact of his opposition on his reelection campaign, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which included ambiguous language that seemingly repudiated the Ward's Cove decision.

Title VI

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination by organizations that receive federal funds. The impact of this provision was immediate and important. Most school districts in the Deep South and many elsewhere in the South had resisted efforts to desegregate in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). Attempts to enforce the Court's desegregation rulings required detailed and expensive litigation in each district, and little actual desegregation occurred in the Deep South before 1964. Title VI made a significant difference when coupled with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the nation's first major program of federal aid to local education programs. Proposals for federal aid to education had been obstructed previously when civil rights advocates, led by Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr., insisted that anyone who received federal funds would be barred from discriminating. These "Powell amendments" prompted southern representatives to vote against federal aid to education. The political forces that led to the adoption of Title VI also meant that southern opposition to federal aid to education could be overcome. The money available to southern school districts through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 broke the logjam over desegregation, and the number of school districts in which whites and African Americans attended the same schools rapidly increased.

Federal agencies' interpretations of Title VI paralleled the Court's interpretation of Title VII. Agencies adopted rules that treated as discrimination practices with a disparate impact. In Alexander v. Choate (1985), the Supreme Court held that Title VI prohibited only acts that were intentionally discriminatory, not practices with a disparate impact. The Court regularly expressed skepticism about the agency rules, although it did not invalidate them. Instead, in Alexander v. Sandoval (2001), the Court held that private parties could not sue to enforce the agencies' disparate-impact regulations. That decision substantially limited the reach of Title VI because the agencies themselves lack the resources to enforce their regulations to a significant extent.

Efforts by courts and presidents to limit the Civil Rights Act of 1964 have been rebuffed regularly. Supplemented by amendments, the act is among the civil rights movement's most enduring legacies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Graham, Hugh Davis. The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy, 1960–1972. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Stern, Mark. Calculating Visions: Kennedy, Johnson, and Civil Rights. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1992.

Whalen, Charles, and Barbara Whalen. The Longest Debate: A Legislative History of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Cabin John, Md.: Seven Locks Press, 1985.

Mark V.Tushnet

See alsoBrown v. Board of Education of Topeka ; Civil Rights Act of 1875 ; Civil Rights Act of 1957 ; Civil Rights Act of 1991 ; Civil Rights Movement ; General Electric Company v. Gilbert ; Griggs v. Duke Power Company ; Ward's Cove Packing Company, Inc., v. Atonio .