Tag Archives: the Civil Rights Act

The most important change in the 1960s must be the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement started in the early 1940s; however, its important milestone was established in the 1960s. Martin Luther King was one of the major civil rights leaders in the period of 1960s. On August 23, 1963, Martin Luther King addressed a famous speech called “I Have a Dream”   which aroused all attentions from the public and the government toward civil rights. “I have  a dream that one day [in]this nation… all men are created equal…I have a dream that my children will one day … not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…”

Martin Luther King was getting closer to his dream after his speech. In July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, which prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin in school, employment, institutions……etc.  The Civil Rights Act was significant in the 1960s because it overruled the Jim Crow laws, which supported “separate but equal ” status for black Americans since 1876, and set up new equal standards that influence the life of Americans all along.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4AItMg70kg

The pictures below show the difference before and after the Civil Rights Act of 1964.