Civil Rights Act of 1957

Civil Rights Act of 1957

Long title	An Act to provide means of further securing and protecting the civil rights of persons within the jurisdiction of the United States.
Enacted by	the 85th United States Congress
Effective	September 9, 1957
Citations
Public law	85-315
Statutes at Large	71 Stat. 634
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 6127 Committee consideration by Judiciary Passed the House on June 18, 1957 (286–126) Passed the Senate on August 7, 1957 (72–18) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on August 27, 1957 (279–97) with further amendment Senate agreed to House amendment on August 29, 1957 (60–15) Signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957
Major amendments
Civil Rights Act of 1960 Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957.

The Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education brought the issue of school desegregation to the fore of public attention, as Southern Democratic leaders began a campaign of "massive resistance" against desegregation. In the midst of this campaign, President Eisenhower proposed a civil rights bill designed to provide federal protection for African American voting rights; most African Americans in the Southern United States had been disenfranchised by state and local laws. Though the civil rights bill passed Congress, opponents of the act were able to remove or weaken several provisions via the Anderson–Aiken amendment and the O'Mahoney jury trial amendment, significantly watering down its immediate impact. During the debate over the law, Senator Strom Thurmond conducted the longest one-person filibuster in Senate history. Under the direction of Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, the Senate passed a watered-down, yet also passable, version of the House bill which removed stringent voting protection clauses.^[1]

Despite having a limited impact on African American voter participation, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 did establish the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Congress would later pass far more effective civil rights laws in the form of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.