Civil Rights Legislation

Warm-up

•Why do we have laws?

Can we have real change if laws do not change?

Question 2: What was the goal of the Civil Rights movement?

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• PROTECTS: African Americans– Made racial segregation illegal in public places• Ex. Schools, hotels, restaurants, theatres

– Required that federal money be taken away from any program that practiced discrimination.

• We are going to do a short reading to see the scope of the Civil Rights Act

24th Amendment (1964)• Ended Poll Taxes in National Elections.

Voting Rights Act of 1965• PROTECTS: African Americans– Outlawed literacy tests– Outlawed poll taxes

Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act)

• It prevented discrimination in the buying, selling and renting of housing on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin

• It also gave three ways to enforce this law:• 1. the DOJ could file lawsuits• 2. complaints could be made to the

Department of Housing and Urban Development

• 3. Private citizens could bring up their own lawsuits.

What were the goals of these pieces of legislation?

Did Civil Rights Legislation get passed quickly or slowly?

Cartoon Strip

• Use the worksheet to create a cartoon strip about civil rights legislation. Try to incorporate the goals of each piece of legislation.

• Include a 1 sentence description under each picture.

Exit Slip

• Fill out the Exit Slip on the Front.

• On the back write 2 paragraphs on the following prompt: Pretend to be a citizen in the 1960s as these acts were being passed. Describe each of the four pieces of legislation and then write 1 paragraph describing which of the 4 pieces of legislation was most important in changing their life and why