Civil Rights Act of 1964

Congress, using its power to regulate interstate commerce, enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964. Discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" in public establishments that had a connection to interstate commerce or was supported by the state is prohibited. Public establishments include places of public accommodations, restaurants, gas stations, bars, taverns, and places of entertainment in general. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent legislation also declared a strong legislative policy against discrimination in public schools and colleges which aided in desegregation.

The Supreme Court plays a crucial role in interpreting the extent of the civil rights. A single Supreme Court ruling can change the very nature of a right throughout the entire country. Supreme Court decisions can also affect the manner in which Congress enacts civil rights legislation, as occurred with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The federal courts were crucial in mandates and supervision of school desegregation programs and other programs established to rectify state or local discrimination.

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Longest Walk

The last major event of the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement was The Longest Walk from February to July 15, 1978. Several hundred Native Americans started out near Alcatraz in San Francisco marched to Washington, D.C. The 30,000 activists that participated symbolized the forced removal of American Indians from their homelands and to draw attention to the continuing problems plaguing the Indian community. The march attempted to call attention to backlash against Indian treaty rights that was gaining momentum in Congress. Unlike many protest events of the mid-'70s, the walk was a peaceful event.

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Freedom Summer

During the summer of 1964, thousands of civil rights activists descended on Mississippi and other Southern states to try to help register African American voters. White local and state officials systematically kept blacks from voting through formal methods, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, and through cruder methods of fear and intimidation, which included beatings and lynching. The inability to vote was only one of many problems blacks encountered in the racist society around them, but the civil-rights officials who decided to zero in on voter registration understood its crucial significance as well the white supremacists did. An African American voting bloc would be able to effect social and political change.

Freedom Summer officials also established 30 "Freedom Schools" in towns throughout Mississippi to address the racial inequalities in Mississippi's educational system. Many of the white college students who had came from the North to help with the voter registration, were assigned to teach in these schools, whose curriculum included black history, the philosophy of the Civil Rights Movement, and leadership development in addition to remedial instruction in reading and arithmetic. The Freedom Schools had hoped to draw at least 1000 students that first summer, and ended up with 3000. The schools became a model for future social programs like Head Start, as well as alternative educational institutions.

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