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By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Article History Table of ContentsDate:July 18, 1964 - July 20, 1964...(Show more)Location:Brooklyn Harlem New York New York City United States...(Show more)Context:African Americans...(Show more) See all related content → Harlem race riot of 1964, a six-day period of rioting that started on July 18, 1964, in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem after a white off-duty police officer shot and killed an African American teenager. The rioting spread to Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville in Brooklyn and to South Jamaica, Queens, and was the first of a number of race riots in major American cities—including Rochester, New York; Jersey City, Paterson, and Elizabeth, New Jersey; Dixmoor (near Chicago), Illinois; and Philadelphia—in that year alone, not to mention the notorious Watts riots of 1965. Harlem experienced this, its third race riot, two decades after the riot of 1943. When veteran officer Thomas Gilligan fatally shot 15-year-old James Powell, violent protests erupted throughout the neighbourhood. A protest organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) had originally been planned to address the disappearance of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, but its focus was quickly shifted to the Powell shooting in particular and police brutality in general. The march began peacefully, but emotions were running high. Some protesters became violent; police responded violently; and chaos quickly followed. Rioters looted stores, vandalized private property, and struggled against the police who had been called into the neighbourhood to restore order. The rioting continued for two nights and spread to other African American neighbourhoods and beyond. When the smoke cleared and peace had been restored, 1 person was dead, more than 100 had been injured, and more than 450 had been arrested. The Day They Changed Their Minds. New York: NAACP, March, 1960. Pamphlet. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (107.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP The NAACP’s legal strategy against segregated education culminated in the 1954 Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. African Americans gained the formal, if not the practical, right to study alongside their white peers in primary and secondary schools. The decision fueled an intransigent, violent resistance during which Southern states used a variety of tactics to evade the law. In the summer of 1955, a surge of anti-black violence included the kidnapping and brutal murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till, a crime that provoked widespread and assertive protests from black and white Americans. By December 1955, the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, Jr., began a protracted campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience to protest segregation that attracted national and international attention. During 1956, a group of Southern senators and congressmen signed the “Southern Manifesto,” vowing resistance to racial integration by all “lawful means.” Resistance heightened in 1957–1958 during the crisis over integration at Little Rock’s Central High School. At the same time, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights led a successful drive for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and continued to press for even stronger legislation. NAACP Youth Council chapters staged sit-ins at whites-only lunch counters, sparking a movement against segregation in public accommodations throughout the South in 1960. Nonviolent direct action increased during the presidency of John F. Kennedy, beginning with the 1961 Freedom Rides. Hundreds of demonstrations erupted in cities and towns across the nation. National and international media coverage of the use of fire hoses and attack dogs against child protesters precipitated a crisis in the Kennedy administration, which it could not ignore. The bombings and riots in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 11, 1963, compelled Kennedy to call in federal troops. On June 19, 1963, the president sent a comprehensive civil rights bill to Congress. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28 roused public support for the pending bill. After the president’s assassination on November 22, the fate of Kennedy’s bill was in the hands of his vice president and successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the United States Congress. See timeline for this period Roy Wilkins NAACP’s Longest Serving LeaderA Fact Sheet on ClotureNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Fact Sheet on Cloture. Typescript, ca. 1951. Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (079.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP Educator and Civil Rights Activist Harry Tyson MooreRalph Ellison’s Invisible ManWork with African Freedom MovementsBayard Rustin to supporters of the War Resisters League, December 1, 1953. Bayard Rustin Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (117.00.00) Courtesy of Walter Naegle Supplemental Brief in the Brown CasesSupplemental Brief for the United States on Reargument in the Cases of Brown v. Board of Education: Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education, Kansas et al., 1953. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (082.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP Attorneys for Brown v. Board of EducationNAACP Secretary Mildred Bond Roxborough Interviewed by Julian Bond in 2010Warren’s Reading Copy of the Brown Opinion, 1954Earl Warren’s reading copy of Brown opinion, May 17, 1954. Earl Warren Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (084.00.00) "A Great Day for America"Harold H. Burton to Earl Warren, May 17, 1954. Holograph letter. Earl Warren Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (84.01.00) Two Reactions to the Brown v. Board U.S. Supreme Court Decision Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Courtesy of NBC News NAACP lawyer Benjamin Hooks interviewed by Renee Poussaint in 2003Six Years after Brown, Atlanta Citizens Discuss Their Schools“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free”Billy Taylor. “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free.” Holograph manuscript, 1954. Page 2. Billy Taylor Papers, Music Division, Library of Congress (085.00.00) Paul Robeson’s Telegram about the Till TrialPaul Robeson to A. Philip Randolph, September 24, 1955. Telegram. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (087.00.00) Courtesy of the A. Philip Randolph Institute The Murder of Teenager Emmett TillCivil Rights Activist Joyce Ladner Interviewed by Joseph Mosnier in 2011NAACP Field Secretary Medgar W. EversMedgar Evers and the Jackson Movement: “Until Freedom Comes”The NAACP’s Report on the Emmett Till MurderMedgar W. Evers. Annual Report Mississippi State Office National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1955. Typescript. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (089.00.00, 089.01.00) Rosa Parks Arrested and FingerprintedRosa Parks’ arrest record, December 5, 1955. Page 2. Frank Johnson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (091.00.00) Civil Rights Activist Ruby Sales Interviewed by Joseph Mosnier in 2011Rosa Parks Being FingerprintedRosa Parks’ Instructions for Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks’ Travels on Behalf of the BoycottNAACP Baltimore Branch flyer advertising a lecture by Rosa Parks at the Sharp Street Methodist Church, September 23, 1956. Rosa Parks Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (321.00.00) Courtesy of the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr., on NonviolenceCivil Rights Activist Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth on Bombings and Beatings in 1950s BirminghamSouthern Negro Leaders Conference
Attorney Clarence MitchellGhana Diplomat Refused Service on U.S. VisitTheodore W. Kheel to NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins, September 25, 1957. Typed letter. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (102.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP Ella Baker Cofounder of the Southern Christian leadership ConferenceCivil Rights Activist Chuck McDew Interviewed by Joseph Mosnier in 2011Daisy Bates Reports on Little Rock Students’ ProgressYouth March for Integrated SchoolsYouth March for Integrated Schools, Washington, D.C., October 25, 1958. Program. Bayard Rustin Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (105.00.00) Courtesy of Walter Naegle Tom Mboya of Kenya: “A World Struggle, A Human Struggle”The Day They Changed Their MindsThe Day They Changed Their Minds. New York: NAACP, March, 1960. Pamphlet. Page 2. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (107.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP Sit-ins in Nashville, TennesseeNashville—Confrontation at City HallCivil Rights Activist Marilyn Luper Interviewed by Joseph Mosnier in 2011“Freedom Now Suite”Max Roach (1924−2007). “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite.” Holograph manuscript score, 1960. Max Roach Papers, Music Division, Library of Congress (109.00.00) The Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Statement of Purpose, 1960. James Forman Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (108.00.00) Courtesy of the SNCC Legacy Project Meeting with Senator Lyndon JohnsonClarence Mitchell to Roy Wilkins, March 2, 1960. Typed letter. Page 2. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (110.00.00) President John F. KennedyNAACP Labor Secretary Herbert HillCommittee on Equal Employment OpportunityEqual Employment Opportunity in Federal Government on Federal Contracts: Executive Order 10925. . . . Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963. Pamphlet. Herbert Hill Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (251.00.00) Report on President’s Committee on Equal Employment OpportunityReport on President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (Rough Draft), 1961. Typescript. Herbert Hill Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (95.00.00)Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (95.00.00) U.S. Representative Patsy T. Mink
CORE’s Freedom RidesJames Farmer to A. Philip Randolph, April 4, 1961. Typed letter. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (116.00.00) Events Involving the Freedom RidesNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Chronology of Events Involving Freedom Rides/Actions of Organizations and Agencies [1961]. Typescript. Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (118.00.00) Journalist Moses Newson Interviewed by Joseph Mosnier in 2011Map of the Freedom RidesBackground Map: 1961 Freedom Rides. [New York]: Associated Press Newsfeature, ca. C E 1962. Printed map. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress (119.00.00) Percy Sutton on the Freedom RidesCivil Rights Leader Whitney M. Young, Jr.Whitney M. Young, Jr., executive director, National Urban League. Photograph, n.d. Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (115.00.00) Civil Rights Activist Courtland Cox Interviewed by Joseph Mosnier in 2011Civil Rights Activist Vernon Jordan Discusses Albany MovementTranscript of telephone conversation between NAACP’s Georgia Field Secretary Vernon Jordan, and Director of Branches Gloster B. Current, December 14, 1961. Typescript. Page 2. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (121.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP Activist Bernice Johnson’s Arrest StatementStatement of Bernice Johnson concerning her arrest and imprisonment for demonstrating in Albany, Georgia, on December 13, 1961. Typescript. Page 2. James Forman Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (123.00.00) Status Report on the Voter Education ProjectFirst Status Report Voter Education Project, Copy No. 20, September 20, 1962. Typescript. Page 2. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (125.00.00) Courtesy of the NAACP CORE Voter Registration in LouisianaMotion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Courtesy Thirteen Productions LLC, WNET NAACP Requests Assistance for James MeredithCivil Rights Activist James FormanPatricia Anna Johnson. James Forman, executive secretary, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Photograph, ca. 1962. James Forman Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (128.00.00) James Forman on Organizing in the Rural SouthThurgood Marshall’s Goodwill Tour to East AfricaThurgood Marshall to U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, November 19, 1963. Typed letter (carbon copy). Page 2. Thurgood Marshall Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (135.00.00) Journalist and Advisor Louis MartinLouis Martin. Civil Rights, Kennedy and Johnson administrations, April 1961–May 16, 1967. Autograph notebook. Page 2. Louis Martin Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (136.00.00) Courtesy of Gertrude Martin Civil Rights Leader Louis MartinCivil Rights Activist Julian BondActivism and Violence in Greenwood, MississippiProfessor Freeman Hrabowski Interviewed by Joseph Mosnier in 2011Birmingham, Alabama, ProtestsTelevision and BirminghamThe Cambridge MovementCourtesy of NBC News Protesters and Desegregation in AlabamaPresident Kennedy’s Civil Rights MessageJohn F. Kennedy. President John F. Kennedy’s speech on civil rights, June 11, 1963. Pamphlet. Page 2. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (140.00.00) President Kennedy Ponders Making a Major Civil Rights AddressPresident Kennedy’s Civil Rights AddressDivergent Views of President Kennedy’s Civil Rights AddressKennedy Sends Civil Rights Bill to CongressU.S. Congress. 88th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, Document No. 124, Civil Rights—Message from the President of the United States, June 19, 1963. Printed document. Page 2. Emanuel Celler Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (141.00.00) The LCCR Considers Civil Rights BillRoy Wilkins to Branches, Youth Councils and State Conferences (Action Memo, No. 2—Civil Rights Bills), July 25, 1963. Memorandum. Page 2. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (133.00.00) Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.Proposed Use of “Calendar Wednesday” for FEPCClarence Mitchell. Notes on conversation with Clarence Mitchell on Powell’s proposal to use Calendar Wednesday for FEPC and withholding of funds, July 29, 1963. Typescript. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (132.00.00) The Preamble for the March on WashingtonBayard Rustin, Tom Kahn, and Norman Hill. Preamble [March on Washington], January, 1963. Typescript. Tom Kahn Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (142.00.00) Organizers Plan March StrategyRoy Wilkins at the March on Washington“I Have a Dream” SpeechMartin Luther King, Jr. Copy of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech submitted for copyright registration, August 28, 1963. Typescript. Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (146.00.00) The March on Washington for Jobs and FreedomNAACP Lawyer Constance Baker Motley Interviewed by Renee Poussaint in 2002Support of Hollywood Entertainers at the MarchCivil Rights Leader John LewisCivil Rights Leaders Meet President KennedyWhite Citizens’ Council Head W. J. SimmonsThe Bombing at Sixteenth Street Baptist ChurchRobert W. Kastenmeier (D-WI), William M. McCulloch (R-OH), and Robert Kennedy on the Subcommittee BillJames Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, 1963James Baldwin in San FranciscoWhite Backlash in the NorthHubert Humphrey Pledges SupportSenator Hubert Humphrey to National Urban League Executive Director Whitney Young, September 5, 1963. Typed letter. National Urban League Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (155.00.00) Negotiations to Support a Bipartisan Compromise BillClarence Mitchell to the Honorable Emanuel Celler, Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. Typed letter, October 18, 1963. Emanuel Celler papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (156.00.00) Condolences to Mrs. Jacqueline KennedyA. Phillip Randolph to Jacqueline Kennedy, November 22, 1963. Typed letter. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (157.00.00) Courtesy of the A. Philip Randolph Institute Louis Martin’s Statement on the Death of President KennedyLouis Martin. Statement concerning the death of President John F. Kennedy, n.d. Typescript. Louis Martin Papers. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (157.01.00) Courtesy of Gertrude Martin Long ShadowHerblock. Long Shadow. Published in the Washington Post, November 25, 1963. Graphite, India ink, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing. Herbert L. Block Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (158.00.00) Securing Kennedy’s Civil Rights BillPresident Lyndon Johnson to Joseph Rauh concerning the Kennedy civil rights bill, December 11, 1963. Typed letter. Joseph Rauh Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (159.00.00) Who wrote Civil Rights Act of 1964?Representatives John Lindsay (1921–2000), Republican of New York, who helped craft the compromise bill after a stronger bill had been attacked by the Kennedy Administration and others as having no chance of passing, and Emanuel Celler (1888–1981), Democrat of New York and chairman of the committee, discuss the two ...
Who signed Civil Rights Act of 1964?At 7:40 p.m. on June 19, 1964, the clerk announced that H.R. 7152 had passed by a vote of 73 to 27. On July 2, the House approved the Senate bill, avoiding conference, and that evening President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill into law.
Who made the Civil Rights Act of 1965?This act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.
What led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964?After the Birmingham police reacted to a peaceful desegregation demonstration in May 1963 by using fire hoses and unleashing police dogs to break up thousands of demonstrators, President Kennedy introduced the Civil Rights Act in a June 12 speech.
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