The Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Chronology

A bill originally sponsored by Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, the DC Compensated Emancipation Act becomes law.

President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation (NARA) granting freedom to slaves residing in Confederate states not occupied by Union forces.

The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery.

Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866 over President Andrew Johnson’s veto.

The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified, granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and providing them equal protection under the law.

The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified, prohibiting states from disenfranchising voters "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Hiram Revels (R-MS) becomes first African American to serve in Senate.

Supreme Court rules in favor of Senate employee Kate Brown in anti-discrimination case.

Blanche K. Bruce (R-MS) becomes first African American to preside over Senate.

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 is signed into law (later overturned).

Supreme Court issues Plessy v. Ferguson decision, stating that segregation is constitutional as long as facilities for blacks and whites are "equal."

35,000 Ku Klux Klan members march on Washington.

Marian Anderson performs on steps of Lincoln Memorial.

A. Philip Randolph proposes a march on Washington.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802 forbidding discriminatory hiring practices by federal contractors.

Senate candidate Hubert Humphrey (D-MN) calls for civil rights plank at Democratic National Convention.

President Harry Truman signs Executive Order 9981, de-segregating the armed services.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in Executive Order 10479, establishes the Anti-discrimination Committee on Government Contracts.

Supreme Court issues Brown vs. Board of Education decision, finding racial segregation in public schools to be in violation of the Constitution.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in Executive Order 10590, establishes the President’s Committee on Government Policy to enforce nondiscrimination in federal employment.

Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery, AL, bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is signed into law.

North Carolina college students stage a sit-in at a department store in Greensboro, NC, that refuses to serve them because of their race.

Civil Rights Act of 1960 is signed into law.

President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order 10925, creating the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity.

President Kennedy sends to Congress his proposed civil rights bill. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT) introduces the bill and it is assigned to the Judiciary Committee. Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) introduces another bill, co-sponsored with Mansfield, which is similar to the administration's bill but lacks a public accommodations section. Mansfield and Warren Magnuson (D-WA) introduce a separate public accommodations bill which is assigned to the Commerce Committee.

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., leads the March on Washington and delivers his speech, “I Have a Dream,” in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

A bomb at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham, AL, kills four girls and wounds 20 more children.

President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn-in as president.

President Johnson delivers a speech to joint congressional session, calling for passage of Kennedy's civil rights bill.

The Twenty-fourth Amendment, abolishing the poll tax is ratified.

House passes H.R. 7152, the Civil Rights Act, sending the bill to the Senate.

Majority Leader Mike Mansfield places H.R. 7152 directly on the calendar, bypassing the Judiciary Committee.

Mansfield introduces motion to make the Civil Rights Act the Senate's pending business and debate begins.

Senate votes to make H.R. 7152 pending business, 67-17.

Mansfield and Dirksen submit a "clean bill" as substitute for H.R. 7152.

Mansfield and Dirksen file cloture motion.

Senator Robert Byrd delivers the longest speech against the civil rights bill, speaking for 14 hours and 13 minutes.

For the first time since Rule XXII was established in 1917, the Senate approves cloture on a civil rights bill, with a vote of 71-29. Everett Dirksen offers a memorable speech in support of the bill. Quoting Victor Hugo, he declares, “Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.”

Senate adopts the Mansfield-Dirksen substitute bill with a roll call vote of 76-18.

Senate approves the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

House approves Senate bill, avoiding conference committee, and President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act into law.