Passage 5
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
Civil rights legislation consists of acts that are enacted (实施) to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of enslavement, physical limitation, national origin, and other distinctions. As a result of the mass struggle for equal rights, two landmark pieces of legislation have become the cornerstone of civil rights legislation in the United States the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Civil rights legislation has a long history in the United States. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 passed despite a failed rejection attempt by Andrew Johnson. The legislation was passed during Reconstruction and aimed to destroy Black Codes, which the southern states had enacted to suppress the rights of newly freed slaves.
Another important early piece of civil rights legislation was the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This legislation declared that all individuals had equal access to accommodations, public transportations, and places of amusement such as theaters.
The legislation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883 and thus left an opening for southern states to enact Jim Crow laws. It was almost 75 years until another civil rights bill was passed. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 created the United States Commission on Civil Rights and strengthened the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, which was to be directed by the attorney general. President Dwight Eisenhower and his administration were all supporters for the bill.
Although the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was significant because it gave teeth to the civil rights division of the Justice Department, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was by far the most significant and comprehensive civil rights legislation in U.S. history. The act was passed in response to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy during the beginning of the Johnson presidency. The bill had been developed by the Kennedy administration, in part as a response to the problems encountered by civil rights protesters in Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963.
The legislation was submitted to Congress on June 19, 1963. President Johnson maneuvered (操纵) the bill through Congress. He signed the bill on July 2, 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent legislation also declared strong legislative policy against discrimination in public schools and colleges,e which assisted in eliminating legal segregation and desegregating (废止种族隔离) southern institutions.
What did the southern states enact to suppress the rights of newly freed slaves?
