History of Civil Rights

"The Republican Party was not so badly split as the Democrats by the civil rights issue. Only one Republican senator participated in the filibuster against the [Civil Rights] bill. In fact, since 1933, Republicans had a more positive record on civil rights than the Democrats. In the twenty-six major civil rights votes since 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 % of the votes. By contrast, the Republican majority favored civil rights in over 96 % of the votes." From History of Filibusters at CORE, Congress of Racial Equality. 

Did you know that--there were 26 major civil rights bills to vote on before the 1964 Act. All supported by Republicans.


The 1957 Civil Rights law—the first significant measure to address African-American civil rights since 1875—established the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for two years, created a civil rights division in the U.S. Justice Department, and authorized the U.S. Attorney General to seek federal court injunctions to protect the voting rights of African Americans. It was pushed by the Eisenhower Administration, the NAACP and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Representative from NY. From History of U.S. House of Representatives.