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Did You Know? - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 · Voices Of Life

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  And did you know that on July 2, 1964, the United
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  States crossed one of the most important thresholds
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  in its history? With one signature, President
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  Lyndon B. Johnson enacted the Civil Rights Act
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  of 1964, a law that confronted nearly a century
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  of discrimination, segregation, and injustice.
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  It changed the legal landscape of America and
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  the moral landscape as well. This is the story
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  of how the nation arrived at that moment. Here
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  is your host, Pastor David. Thank you for joining
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  us today on Voices of Life, a ministry of the
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  Church for Life. I'm Pastor David. The Civil
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  Rights Act did not appear suddenly. It rose from
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  the long struggle that followed the Civil War.
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  After 1865, three constitutional amendments reshaped
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  the nation. The 13th Amendment, which abolished
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  slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed
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  equal protection, and the Fifteenth Amendment
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  protected voting rights. Yet despite these promises,
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  Southern states built a system of racial segregation
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  known as Jim Crow, a system that lasted for generations.
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  I think we talked about Jim Crow in the last
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  podcast, and Jim Crow had nothing to do with
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  the Civil War. It had nothing to do with segregation.
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  It was just a term from a an actor back 30 years
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  before the Civil War that used to use blackface
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  comedy. However, that is what it's been referred
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  to. So under Jim Crow, schools were segregated,
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  restaurants, hotels, theaters, buses were segregated,
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  voting rights were blocked through literacy tests,
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  poll taxes, intimidation, and employment opportunities
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  were restricted. And in 1896, the Supreme Court's
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  decision in Plessy versus Ferguson declared separate
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  but equal, giving legal cover to segregation
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  for decades and constitutionalizing it. So the
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  real reason here, the real segregation came from
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  Plessy v. Ferguson. It was not Jim Crow. So just
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  to be clear, that was the real decision -maker.
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  And moving with that thought, by mid -20th century,
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  The struggle for equality reached a breaking
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  point. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown
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  v. Board of Education that segregated schools
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  were unconstitutional. But many states resisted
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  forcing federal intervention, igniting a movement
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  that would reshape the country. Key events of
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  the Civil Rights Movement included 1955 Montgomery
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  bus boycott, 1957 Little Rock Nine, 1960 Greenboro
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  sit -ins, 1961 Freedom Rides 1963 Birmingham
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  Campaign 1963 again March on Washington and 1964
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  Freedom Summer. There were all kinds of images
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  of police dogs, fire hoses, bombing of churches,
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  murder and murdering of civil rights that just
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  shocked the conscience of a nation. So violence
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  and especially in the South, that is really what
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  pushed this through. We also talked about in
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  our last podcast how the NAACP, rather than doing
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  a frontal attack or defense on all this, they
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  just chipped away at Plessy v Ferguson one case
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  at a time, and that's how they got to the point
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  they are. So on June 11th, 1963, President John
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  F. Kennedy addressed the nation. He declared
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  civil rights a moral issue, not just a political
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  one. Kennedy proposed sweeping legislation to
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  protect public accommodations, voting rights,
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  school desegregation, employment opportunities.
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  Four very important parts there. Unfortunately,
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  on November 22, 1963, he was assassinated before
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  the bill could pass. After Kennedy's death, President
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  Lyndon B. Johnson stepped forward with resolve.
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  He told Congress, let's continue. So Johnson
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  used national sympathy, his experience as Senate
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  majority leader, and he was able to put together
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  some bipartisan support. Now remember, Johnson
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  was a Democrat, and most of these segregation
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  laws all came from Democrats. So Democrats controlled
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  Congress for decades. So it was a lot to get
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  a big mind change going. But he was able to push
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  the bill through Congress. Many historians believe
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  his leadership was decisive. The Civil Rights
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  Act faced one of the longest filibusters in Senate
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  history. It began on March 30th, 1964 and lasted
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  60 working days. It was led primarily by Southern
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  Democrats. Here we go back to the Democrats again.
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  Gotta remember Lincoln was the first Republican
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  office as president, and he was the one that
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  did the Emancipation Proclamation and freed the
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  slaves and all those things and worked toward
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  that. But, you know, there were things that went
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  along with that. But the Democrats continued
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  to hang on to the old ways. So opponents included
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  Richard Russell, Strom Thurmond, and Robert Byrd.
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  Some of those names we probably know because
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  they were in Congress up until not too long ago.
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  On June 10th, the Senate invoked cloture. And
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  in cloture, the first successful cloture vote
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  on a civil rights bill. The vote was 71 to 29,
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  final passage 73 to 27, and it was signed July
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  2nd, 1964. So what did the act really do? Well,
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  the Civil Rights Act contains 11 titles. Here
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  are the most influential ones. Title I, protecting
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  voting rights. Title II, banned discrimination
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  in public accommodations. Title III, allowed
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  federal lawsuits to desegregate facilities. Title
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  IV, strengthened school desegregation. Title
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  V, expanded the Civil Rights Commission. Title
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  VI, prohibited discrimination in federally funded
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  programs. Title VII, banned employment discrimination
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  based on race, color, religion, sex, or national
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  origin, and a created equal opportunity commission,
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  EOC. Now, one thing to note about all these titles
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  and all the interpretations that gave some of
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  these things from the Supreme Court decisions
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  all went back to Marbury v. Madison. And in a
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  few podcasts ago, we talked about Marbury v.
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  Madison, that it was self -serving, there was
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  bias, there was conflicts of interest. And if
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  that ever gets overturned, a lot of these titles
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  would be gone overnight. A lot of the Supreme
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  Court's authority would be gone because none
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  of those positions that that decision gave the
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  Supreme Court, none of those powers are in the
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  Constitution. They're actually unconstitutional.
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  and at some point I could probably see in our
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  futures if we had a constitutional convention
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  in the future I could see where the Supreme Court
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  has a lot to lose as far as powers and a lot
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  of these things would go away and have to be
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  redone a different way. It depends on how the
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  Constitutional Convention went. So just to be
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  clear, a lot of these things are dependent on
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  Marbury v. Madison. Segregated businesses began
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  to disappear. Schools integrated more rapidly.
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  Federal funds could be withheld from discriminatory
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  institutions. Employment discrimination cases
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  increased. The federal government became more
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  active in protecting civil rights. But voting
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  discrimination persisted, leading to the Voting
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  Rights Act of 1965, which provided stronger protections.
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  The Civil Rights Act became the foundation for
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  later protections involving women, religious
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  minorities, people with disabilities, older Americans,
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  LGBTQ plus individuals, and so on. In 2020 the
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  Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v Clayton County
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  that Title VII protects employees from discrimination
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  based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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  Again, nothing in the Constitution says anything
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  about this stuff. This is an interpretation of
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  the Supreme Court that depends solely on Marbury
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  v. Madison. So opponents argued the federal government
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  was overreaching. Businesses should control their
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  own policies and states should regulate their
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  own affairs. Now again with some of these titles
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  where they go into the hotels and the gas stations,
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  they use the Interstate Commerce Act. Well I
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  don't know how many hotels Necessarily are in
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  two states at the same time they they may have
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  there may be chains things like that but each
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  one is is independently owned by a franchisee
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  or corporation or something like that and To
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  say the federal government has jurisdiction because
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  of the Interstate Commerce Act That's a big stretch.
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  So again, that's one of those things that I think
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  will come back later on and Eventually be straightened
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  out supporters on the other hand responded that
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  said constitutional rights had been denied for
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  over 100 years. States had repeatedly failed
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  to protect equal treatment. Federal intervention
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  was necessary to enforce the 14th Amendment.
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  But remember in our Bill of Rights anything that
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  was not specifically given to the federal government
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  to Congress is retained by the state. It's very
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  clear and none of this stuff is in the Constitution.
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  None of this was delegated or given to the federal
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  government. So one could very well argue that
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  the actual act is unconstitutional, or most of
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  it. So again, I think we're going to see some
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  changes there in the future. But the Civil Rights
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  Act of 1964 stands alongside the Civil Rights
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  Act of 1866. Brown v. Board of Education, Civil
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  Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights of 1965, and
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  the Fair Housing Act 1968. That's another one,
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  Fair Housing. How does the federal government
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  get jurisdiction there? Those go back into state
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  rights. But together, these measures dismantled
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  the legal framework of segregation in America.
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  So the ends was a good thing, but the way we
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  got there was not necessarily the way I would
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  have liked to get there. I would have liked to
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  get there on solid constitutional grounds. On
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  July 11th, 1963, Kennedy proposes legislation.
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  We said November 22nd, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated.
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  February 10th, 1964, the House passes the bill.
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  March 26th of 1964, the Senate begins that long
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  debate. June 10th, 1964, Closure was invoked.
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  June 19, 1964, the Senate passes the bill. Finally,
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  on July 2, 1964, Johnson signs it into law. From
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  a pastoral point of view, the Civil Rights Act
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  of 1964 did more than change laws. It changed
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  lives. It reminded America that equality is not
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  automatic. It must be defended, protected, and
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  lived out. This is Pastor David. You're listening
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  to The Voices of Life, a ministry of the Church
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  for Life. Thank you for joining us today. Grace
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  and peace be with you. Until next time. If this
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  episode encouraged you, share it with someone
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  who needs hope. And until we meet again, walk
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  in truth, stand in courage, and keep listening
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  for the voice that leads you forward. This has
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  been Voices of Life. Peace be with you.