Civil Rights Act of 1960

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration rolls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote or actually vote.

The Senate's debate over the passage of this bill actually started on February 29, 1960. However, a group of 18 Southern Democrats divided into three teams of six in order to be able to create a continuous filibuster wherein each member would only have to speak for four hours every three days. This system resulted in the longest filibuster in history, lasting over 43 hours from February 29 to March 2. On the morning of March 2nd, only a fifteen-minute break was allowed before the Senate sat for another 82 hours. By the time the 24-hour sessions were called off by majority leader Lyndon Johnson, the Senate had sat for 125 hours and 31 minutes, minus a fifteen-minute break.

The act was signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on May 6, 1960.

In spite of the two Eisenhower civil rights acts (see: Civil Rights Act of 1957), only an extra 3% black voters were added to the electoral roll for the 1960 election.