Civil Rights Act Of 1964 Analysis

The Civil RIghts Act of 1964 is one of the major milestones of the Civil Rights Movement. Its major provisions were ending segregation and discrimination. It required equal job and voting opportunities for everyone. It aimed to end segregation in public places such as busses, and especially, schools. It also prohibited discrimination against people who chose to associate with or marry someone of a different race or color. President John F. Kennedy introduced the act. The act gained lots of opposition from Southern Congress members. Regardless of the opposition, the act still survived. Eventually, it was signed into a law by Lyndon B. Johnson who was President John F. Kennedy’s successor. Before this act, there was a lot of discrimination and …show more content…
In other words, he wouldn’t allow African Americans to stay at his motel. When Congress intervened to say that the motel owner must not discriminate against African Americans and must allow them to rent a room in his motel, he had several arguments. In court, he argued that Congress did not have the authority to intervene because it wasn’t really a matter of interstate commerce. He continued to argue by claiming that Congress interfering and telling him to service all people, no matter their race or color, was a violation of his fifth and thirteenth amendment rights. He argued that he should be able to run his business the way he chooses. He also stated that Congress was implementing involuntary servitude or in other words, forcing him to do something labor related (in this case, service African Americans) against his will and under coercion. The United States countered all his arguments. First of all, the federal government argued that the reason they were regulating the motel owner’s business by restricting him to allow African Americans to rent rooms in his motel was because the matter was related to interstate