50th anniversary of Civil Rights Act signing observed

The year 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a milestone in the struggle to extend civil, political, and legal rights and protections to African Americans, including former slaves and their descendants, and to end segregation in public and private facilities.

The United States Senate this year commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, which signed into law on July 2, 1964.

The long Senate debate over the Civil Rights Act began on Feb. 10, 1964, when the House of Representatives passed HR 7152.

When the House-passed bill arrived in the Senate on Feb. 26, Majority Leader Mike Mansfield placed it directly on the Senate calendar rather than refer it to the Judiciary Committee.

Chaired by civil rights opponent James Eastland of Mississippi, that committee had become a graveyard for civil rights legislation.

Mansfield moved to take up the measure on March 9 and it became the Senate's pending business on March 26, prompting southern senators to launch a filibuster.

That protracted filibuster, along with the broader debate over the bill, continued through 60 days of debate, until cloture was invoked on June 10, 1964.

This marked the first time in its history that the Senate invoked cloture on a civil rights bill. The Senate passed the bill on June 19, 1964, by a vote of 73 to 27.

The history of the Senate and civil rights legislation began a century earlier, when senators such as Henry Wilson, William Stewart, and Charles Sumner proposed and championed bills and constitutional amendments not only to abolish slavery but to extend civil and political rights to all African Americans.

Despite some early successes, it would take nearly 100 years to achieve such aspirations as the Senate became a major stumbling block to civil rights legislation.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 remains one of the Senate's most important legislative landmarks.

For more information, go to: http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/civil_rights/civil_rights.htm#civil_rights_Copy=intro.