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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Chronology


April 16, 1862

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

Henry Wilson (W/R-MA)


January 1, 1863

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


December 6, 1965

The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery.


April 9, 1866

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


July 9, 1868

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.


February 3, 1870

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


February 25, 1870

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


November 17, 1873

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


February 14, 1875

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

Blanche Kelso Bruce by Simmie Lee Knox


March 1, 1875

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


May 18, 1896

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


August 8, 1925

35,000 Ku Klux Klan members march on Washington.


April 9, 1939

Marian Anderson performs on steps of Lincoln Memorial.


January 25, 1941

A. Philip Randolph proposes a march on Washington.


June 25, 1941

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


July 12, 1948

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


July 26, 1948

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


August 13, 1953

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


May 17, 1954

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


January 15, 1955

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


December 1, 1955

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


September 27, 1957

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is signed into law.


February 1, 1960

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


May 6, 1960

Civil Rights Act of 1960 is signed into law.


March 6, 1961

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


June 19, 1963

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.

Mike Mansfield (D-MT)
U.S. Historical Office


August 28, 1963

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


September 15, 1963

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


November 22, 1963

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


November 27, 1963

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


January 23, 1964

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

Everett McKinley Dirksen by Richard Hood Harryman


February 10, 1964

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


February 26, 1964

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


March 9, 1964

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


March 26, 1964

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


May 26, 1964

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


June 8, 1964

Mansfield and Dirksen file cloture motion.


June 9-10, 1964

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


June 10, 1964

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.”


June 17, 1964

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


June 19, 1964

Senate approves the Civil Rights Act of 1964.


July 2, 1964

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


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