Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957, , a federal voting rights bill, was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Its purpose was to show the federal government's support for racial equality after the US Supreme Court's 1954 decision in "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka".
Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2. Legend has it that as he put down his pen Johnson told an aide, "We have lost the South for a generation", anticipating a coming backlash from Southern whites against Johnson's Democratic Party. The act banned racial segregation in public accommodations, banned employment discrimination on the basis of race or gender, and strengthened the federal government's power to investigate racial and gender employment discrimination. The law later upheld by the Supreme Court in cases such as "Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States".