Explain The Significance Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1964

2. Explain the significance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Exactly five days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, President Johnson took an unsuspected and progressive stance against the deprivation of civil rights. He called for legislative action to address the issue, calling for Congress to draft a bill, stating “We have talked long enough about equal rights in this country” (Foner 972). A few months later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, which “…prohibited racial discrimination in employment, institutions…, and privately owned public accommodations” (Foner 972), in addition to banning discrimination based on one’s sex. The Civil Rights Act was a major victory for both the Civil Rights
Movement (and those fighting for gender equality), securing federal support against discrimination and segregation. Finally, there was a federal piece of legislation banning segregation in all aspects, and this time there were no loopholes for Southern states to use.
The Civil Rights Act, however, did not address the restriction black southerners faced when it came to registering to vote. But following the death of two white civil rights campaigners during the Freedom Summer, which was an effort to increase black voter registration in the state of Mississippi, and increasing violence against protesters, the federal government felt no choice but to intervene. A year after the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act was passed, which “…allowed federal officials to register voters” (Foner 976) and targeted Southern laws that aimed to prevent the registration of African American voters. Finally, Southern African Americans were able to exercise their rights guaranteed to them by the Fifteenth Amendment almost a hundred years earlier, and the asinine restrictive laws conjured up by white supremacists were outlawed. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, together, provided the rights and liberties African Americans had fought so long for. Despite not ending the Civil Rights Movement, both pieces of legislation played
important key roles in the movement and were significant victories for African Americans specifically. 3. What were the effects of President Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty programs? In order to ensure a good quality of life for generations to come after the United States’ prosperity during the 1950s and early 1960s, President Johnson developed the Great Society and War on Poverty programs.
The Great Society, much like Roosevelt’s New Deal, aim was to promote the positive welfare for American citizens. Outcomes of the program includes the establishment of programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which “…provided health services to the poor and elderly” (Foner 977), the creation of food stamps, and the government’s financial support of public education and urban development. The government’s power and influence were also increased, especially with the creation of “…the Departments of Transportation and of Housing and Urban Development” (Foner 977) and new agencies, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission being an example. In addition to the Great Society’s attempt to supply a decent quality of life, the War on Poverty was also introduced, whose goal was to eliminate poverty in the United States. Overall, the War on Poverty did not address the direct issues that contributed to growing poverty and failed to come up with solutions such as “…guaranteeing annual income for all Americans, creating jobs for the unemployed, promoting the spread of unionization, or making it more difficult for businesses to shift production to the low-wage South or overseas” (Foner 978). It did, however, provide “…Head Start (an early childhood education program), job
training, legal services and scholarships” (Foner 978), in an attempt to address what it felt was the cause of poverty—the lack of skills, work habits, and proper attitudes. Despite controversy and negativity surrounding both programs, both the Great Society and the War on Poverty did have substantial impacts on American society. The War on Poverty did, in fact, succeed in “…reducing the incidence of poverty from 22 percent to 13 percent of American families during the 1960s” (Foner 979) despite failing to completely eradicate poverty. The Great Society, on the other hand, succeeded where the New Deal didn’t in addressing “…the needs of the least-advantaged Americans” (Foner 978), especially blacks, who were excluded from New Deal programs like Social Security. Together with the Civil Rights Movement, the Great Society also lessened the gap “…between whites and black in education, income, and access to skilled employment” (Foner 979), but did not completely eliminate it. Overall, despite not completely solving the problems in American society, specifically inequality and poverty, Johnson’s Great Society and War on Poverty programs did have an influential impact on American citizens, providing opportunities and support that were previously unobtainable.