Hi Family,
Following is a letter I received from cousin Julian about “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Long Struggle for Freedom” Exhibit. If you have the opportunity while you are here for the reunion to check it out, I am sure you will find it informative and edifying. Please read below.
May 13, 2014
Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
More Than 200 Items Featured in Library of Congress Exhibition
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Long Struggle for Freedom”
Exhibition Opens on Act’s Date of Passage 50 Years Ago, June 19
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It banned discrimination in public accommodations, such as hotels, restaurants, theaters and retail stores. It outlawed segregation in public education. It guaranteed equal job opportunities, and it ended unequal application of voter registration requirements. The act was a landmark piece of legislation that opened the doors to further progress in the acquisition and protection of civil rights.
The Library of Congress exhibition “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom” opens on Thursday, June 19, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the bill’s passage in the U.S. Congress and its signing into law. The exhibition highlights the legal and legislative struggles and victories, and it sheds light on the individuals—well-known and ordinary—who participated in the decades-long campaign for equality.
Located in the Southwest Gallery on the second level of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C., the exhibition will be free and open to the public Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It closes on June 20, 2015.
The exhibition will feature more than 200 items, including correspondence and documents from civil rights leaders and organizations, photographs, newspapers, legal briefs, drawings and posters. The materials are drawn primarily from the NAACP Records in the Library’s Manuscript Division and Prints and Photographs Division. In addition, audiovisual stations throughout the gallery will feature audio clips and film footage from the Library’s American Folklife Center’s Civil Rights History Project and the Motion Picture, Broadcast and Recorded Sound Division.
The exhibition will include two videos produced by HISTORY®. One will be an introductory film, explaining the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its significance. It will be narrated by Julian Bond, professor, politician and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. The second film will focus on the impact of the Civil Rights Act and will feature interviews with Taylor Branch, author and historian; U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; U.S. Rep. John Lewis, leader in the Civil Rights Movement; and Risa Goluboff, professor of law at the University of Virginia.
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom” is made possible by a generous grant from Newman’s Own Foundation, in addition to the support from HISTORY.
There are six thematic sections in the exhibition: Prologue, Segregation Era, World War II and the Post-War Years, Civil Rights Era, Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Impact.
Exhibition Highlights
Prologue will provide a historical backdrop for the course of race relations in the United States, from the beginning of Reconstruction (1865-1877) to the first decade of the 20th century. This section explains steps taken to grant newly freed African Americans basic civil and political rights, as well as the actions taken after Reconstruction to roll back those rights. Highlights include a lithograph of the first African American senators and representatives in the 41st and 42nd Congress of the United States; Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld segregation with “separate but equal”; and Booker T. Washington’s 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech that addresses race relations.
Segregation Era explores the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) by a group of black and white activists in 1909. The section also examines the escalation of racial violence. Interesting artifacts include the lynching flag flown at the headquarters of NAACP in New York City whenever an African American was lynched; a sign from a Texas restaurant that read “No Dogs, Negroes, Mexicans”; the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters agreement with the Pullman Company; and a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt to NAACP’s Walter Francis White detailing the First Lady’s lobbying efforts for federal action against lynchings.
World War II and the Post-War Years delves into civil rights initiatives, minorities in the military and the founding of civil rights organizations from 1940 to 1949. The section will feature the Fair Employment Practices Committee, which President Franklin Roosevelt established during this period. Highlights on display include a letter written by Jackie Robinson to his college friend on breaking the color barrier in professional baseball; the Bayard Rustin and George M. Houser report on the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, the first Freedom Ride conducted to test enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Morgan v Virginia banning segregation in interstate travel; a photograph of the Journey of Reconciliation participants; and President Harry Truman’s two 1948 executive orders banning discrimination in federal employment and in the armed forces.
The Civil Rights Era focuses on the events and achievements of well-known and ordinary people from 1950 to 1963. Pivotal events include the March on Washington, the Mississippi Freedom Summer and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Highlights include U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren’s reading copy of the Brown v. Board of Education opinion, Rosa Parks’ arrest record from the day she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger; a telegram from Paul Robeson to A. Philip Randolph regarding the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, and speeches by John Lewis and Martin Luther King written for the March on Washington. Also in this section, a wide variety of civil rights-inspired songs—gospel, folk, jazz, rock and pop—will be heard.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 examines the culmination of efforts from private citizens, organizations, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and the House and Senate leadership of the U.S. Congress. After eight months of congressional debate, the bill passed in the U.S. Senate on June 19, 1964. The House voted to adopt the Senate-passed bill on July 2, and that same day President Johnson signed the bill into law. Highlights include Johnson’s draft remarks delivered when he signed the bill, and a number of letters between NAACP officials Clarence Mitchell and Roy Wilkins concerning the legislative progress of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Impact section explores how the passage of the act lent the power of the federal government to the ongoing struggle for a more just and inclusive American society. It also looks at the shortcomings for some of the goals of civil rights activists and how further grassroots mobilization, judicial precedent and legislative action were needed to guarantee civil rights for all.
The Library of Congress on Wednesday, May 14, will start a series of weekly blogs about the exhibition, at http://www.loc.gov/blogs/.
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 158 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at http://www.loc.gov.
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