Landmark Civil Rights Act Observes Its 60th Anniversary

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

When federal lawmakers passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was 17, Vice President Kamala Harris was 1, Civil Rights Advocate Al Sharpton was 10, and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele was only 7.

Some of these high-profile leaders recently celebrated the law’s 60th birthday. The point is that before the 1964 Civil Right Act officially ended segregation in public places, outlawed job discrimination, and opened new doors, Justice Thomas would not have been able to legally take three recent trips paid for by Republican Party donor Harlan Crow. Vice President Harris would not have been able to legally stay in hotels or travel on public transportation to perform her job. Sharpton probably would not have been chosen to host a popular MSNBC show starting in 2011. Steele probably would not have served as the first Black Republican National Committee Chair from 2009-2011.

In other words, Thomas’ skin color would have legally prevented him from boarding a private jet flight from Missouri to Montana in May 2017; a second private jet flight from Washington, D.C., to Georgia and back in March 2019; and a further flight from D.C. to California in June 2021.

And Thomas’ race would probably have prevented him from flying to Bali, Indonesia, on July 12, 2019; or enjoying another Crow-financed trip to  Monte Rio, Ca., from July 18 to 21, 2019. Reports show the items paid for during Thomas’ trips included “food and lodging” at a hotel and a “private club.” Thomas’s race would probably have stopped him from traveling for the past 25 years as a guest of Crow.

Although Thomas may never publicly thank tireless civil rights advocates such as the Rev. Dr. Martin L. King Jr., or John Lewis, who was arrested more than 40 times, or hundreds of adult and child protestors who police often arrested, beat with fire hoses and attack dogs in the 1960s, Thomas is one of many prominent Blacks who benefitted from the law’s passage.

Thomas may never publicly express his gratitude to Harry Tyson Moore, a Black teacher and NAACP leader who died with his wife after a KKK-detonated bomb exploded in their Florida home in 1951. But Thomas still stands on the shoulders of giants, including Moore and his wife – the earliest civil rights leaders to be assassinated.

“They have passed the baton to us, and we will continue the fight for the promise of America,” Harris, the nation’s first Black female vice president said in an X post, as several high-profile Blacks recently commemorated the 60th anniversary of the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

“As we commemorate this milestone achievement, we are faced with the unfortunate reality that many of our gains and hard-won civil rights are under threat once again,” the Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, said in a recent statement.

“Whether it’s voting rights, access to quality education, reproductive rights, equal opportunity in the workforce, LGBTQ+ rights, or simply put – equality across the board – everything is on the line at this pivotal moment including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as illustrated by the case of Fearless Fund – the first case where a company was sued for exercising DEI by giving grants to women of color,” he added.

Sixty years after Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Martin Luther King III, who was only 10 when his father was assassinated, said in a recent X post,  “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 … has come under attack from a radical Supreme Court. What we do this year will determine decades of voting and civil rights. Those are the stakes. Act accordingly.”

But, Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump suggested that the passage of the 1964 law only represented a shift in racial relations that must be maintained. “Our fight for justice continues,” Crump said. Maintenance means people must still “address ongoing discrimination & disparities and work tirelessly to achieve true equality for all.”

Courtland Cox, now 83, was 22 when he stood alongside civil rights icons Bayard Rustin and John Lewis at the 1963 March on Washington. Cox recently told ABC News, “250,000 people came to Washington, D.C. They came together to say, ‘Enough is enough. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.’”

Cox said, “I think one of the things that was most impressive to me, as a young person, both in terms of my peer group and the people I worked with, is that they were determined to make the change. It’s one of the grandest things I’ve ever done in my life.”

This is “an ongoing battle that’s been going on for 80 years,” Cox told Reuters in a July 2 interview.