ABSTRACT
D uring the first half of the 1960s, a rising tide of African-American protest forced the nation to dismantle the legal edifice of segregation and disfranchisement. Spurred on by the moral claims of civil rights leaders, the growing insistence of African Americans, and fear of the consequences of inaction, Congress passed landmark civil rights legislation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 committed the national government to end segregation in public places and outlawed employment discrimination. The Voting Rights Act, passed a year later, destroyed the barriers southern states had established to prevent African Americans from voting. These measures dramatically altered race relations, especially in the South. By the beginning of the 1970s, “whites only” signs were relics of the past, and African Americans enjoyed service in restaurants, theaters, hotels, parks, and sports arenas that previously had been closed to them; significant school desegregation occurred, making southern schools the most integrated in the nation by 1972; and African Americans registered and voted in large numbers, becoming a significant force in southern politics.
