Civil Rights in America XVI: Moving Toward the 1964 Civil Rights Act Fall 2026

Events in 1963 moved the nation closer to Federal action to end segregation in public accommodations and to ban discrimination in employment based upon race (and other things).  Alabama and specifically Birmingham was where public attention was focused as the forces seeking to end segregation and the forces intent on maintaining the status quo clashed in very public ways.  The Children’s March in Birmingham, which we covered in our last series, and the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church by the Klan in September, were critical.  President Kennedy’s assassination in November and the ascendancy of Lyndon Johnson to the Presidency were also critical.  Kennedy’s proposed Civil Rights legislation, which was bottled up by the pro-segregation forces at the time of his death, was embraced by LBJ, who used Kennedy’s death and his political skills to break the bottleneck.  Come join us as we flesh out the history which led up to the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and it’s landmark impact upon the American story.

Don’t hesitate to sign up even if you haven’t a ended any of the previous classes in the series.