Chapter 5 Essay 3
Describe the effects on society of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the voting rights act of 1965
The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination by the government not by private parties. Because of this Amendment for a long time in American history black people were legally allowed to be banned from hotels, restaurants, and other accommodations. Employers were also freely allowed to discriminate in their job hiring practices. But, since the 1960’s these discriminations were less free to private parties for reasons of race, sex, ethnicity, or religion. The Civil Rights Act of the mid 60’s and the Voting Rights Act had huge effects on our society.
Starting with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 it was based on Congress’s power to regulate commerce, entitles all persons to equal access to restaurants, bars, theaters, gas stations, hotels, and many more establishments that involved the general public. Discrimination was also banned against the hiring, promotion, and wages of employees of medium size and large firms because of this legislation. However, because of the Civil Rights Act, a few forms of job discrimination were still legal; for example, any owner of a small business was still allowed to discriminate in who they hire as his or her co-workers. This Civil Rights Act may have eliminated most discrimination in all public places but workers in these environments would still give white people better service than to black people but it was illegal to refuse service to anyone because of their race, gender, ethnicity, etc.
In 1968 the civil rights legislation that Congress had passed was designed to prohibit any discrimination in housing. Any building owner was not allowed to refuse sell or rent of a housing based on a person’s race, sex, religion, or ethnicity. However, an exception was made for owners of small multifamily dwellings who reside on the premises. Even though this legal prohibition against housing was taken...