In 2014 the United States Senate commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, signed into law on July 2, 1964, with a special feature that highlights the Senate’s important role in that legislative story. Sections focus on the strategy of the bill’s proponents, the Senate debate and filibuster, the cloture motion that allowed for a final vote, and the Senate’s passage of the bill on June 19, 1964. The story begins with an overview of the Senate’s consideration of civil rights legislation from the Civil War era into the early 1960s.
