Civil Rights Movement
Bill-signing Pen
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The pen President Johnson used to sign the 1964 Civil Rights Bill.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed into law at the White House by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964, was landmark legislation that banned the unequal application of voter registration requirements; outlawed discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations; provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities; and prohibited employers from hiring based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Both the bill-signing ceremony and much of the petitioning of the executive branch by African Americans that led to the drafting and passage of the law took place on Lafayette Square, whether in meetings inside the White House or protests outside of it. Indeed, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 represented a partial culmination of at least a century's worth of efforts by African Americans urging the federal government to broadly outlaw segregation and provide substantive legal protection from discrimination.
The footage running here shows the concluding moments of President Johnson's speech to the nation on July 2, and the signing ceremony for the Civil Rights Act that followed it. As is custom, the President presented a number of pens he used to sign the bill into law to people involved in its passage. The Congressional leadership received the first pens, like the one exhibited here, followed by African-American leaders, including the Reverend. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, and Whitney M. Young, Jr..
In the video, Johnson also can be heard telling Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP, that he wants to meet with African-American leaders immediately following the ceremony. Two pages from the July 2 presidential daily diary list the African American leaders who attended both the bill-signing ceremony and that subsequent meeting, where participants discussed strategies to meet the legal challenges to the new law that were sure to come.
Watch:
The Civil Rights Act being signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964.
Related Images:
 Civil Rights Leaders Meet with President Kennedy Click Image to Enlarge A photograph of Civil Rights Leaders meeting with President Kennedy in the Oval Office, 1963.  Police Arrest Civil Rights Demonstrator Click Image to Enlarge Photograph of a Civil Rights protestor being arrested in front of the White House in 1965.  President Lyndon B. Johson's Daily Diary- Civil Rights Bill Signing, page2 Click Image to Enlarge Page of President Johnson's daily diary from the day of the Civil Rights Bill signing. |
Related Subjects:
Civil Rights Leaders
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| The White House | From slavery to sit-ins.... |
| President Lyndon B. Johnson's Daily Diary- Civil Rights Bill Signing | Scans of pages of President Johnson's daily diary from the day of the Civil Rights Bill signing. |
| Lafayette Square | An enslaved woman buys her freedom and changes the nation's history.... |
| Civil Rights Leaders Meet with President Kennedy | Photograph of Civil Rights Leaders meeting with President Kennedy in the Oval Office, 1963. |
Civil Rights Movement
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| White House Picketers, 1933 | Photograph of demonstrators in front of the White House protesting the jailing of the Scottsboro boys in 1933. |
| The White House | From slavery to sit-ins.... |
| President Lyndon B. Johnson's Daily Diary- Civil Rights Bill Signing | Scans of pages of President Johnson's daily diary from the day of the Civil Rights Bill signing. |
| Police Arrest Civil Rights Demonstrator | Photograph of a Civil Rights protestor being arrested in front of the White House in 1965. |
| Civil Rights Leaders Meet with President Kennedy | Photograph of Civil Rights Leaders meeting with President Kennedy in the Oval Office, 1963. |
| Civil Rights Era at St. John's Church | The Civil Rights Era at St. John's Church from "The Half Had Not Been Told Me: African Americans on Lafayette Square" cell phone tour. |
| "Memorandum for the Files, Subject: Meeting of Negro Leaders with the President, June 23, 1958" | Memorandum for President Eisenhower's files detailing meeting of Civil Rights Leaders with the President. |
Segregation
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| White House Picketers, 1933 | Photograph of demonstrators in front of the White House protesting the jailing of the Scottsboro boys in 1933. |
| The White House | From slavery to sit-ins.... |
| Telegram from President Theodore Roosevelt to Booker T. Washington | Telegram from President Theodore Roosevelt to Booker T. Washington after their controversial dinner. |
| Telegram from Booker T. Washington to President Theodore Roosevelt | Telegram from President Theodore Roosevelt to Booker T. Washington after their controversial dinner. |
| Rodgers House/ Belasco Theater | A command performance by the first African American opera star... |
| President Lyndon B. Johnson's Daily Diary- Civil Rights Bill Signing | Scans of pages of President Johnson's daily diary from the day of the Civil Rights Bill signing. |
| Police Arrest Civil Rights Demonstrator | Photograph of a Civil Rights protestor being arrested in front of the White House in 1965. |
| Mme. Evanti Wins Acclaim of Capital | Transcription of a 1932 newspaper account of Lillian Evanti's concert at the Belasco Theatre. |
| Lillian Evanti Costume Fan | Costume fan used by Lillian Evanti. |
| Lillian Evanti (1890-1967) | Lyric soprano Lillian Evanti was the first African American to perform with a major European opera company, but she also maintained deep ties to her native Washington, D.C. |
| Letter from Frederick Douglass on U.S. Marshal Letterhead | Correspondence of Frederick Douglass in his role as U.S. Marshal. |
| Lafayette Square | An enslaved woman buys her freedom and changes the nation's history.... |
| Grand Jury Indictment of William Clements | Grand Jury Indictment of William Clements for the Murder of James King. |
| Frederick Douglass | Revered African American leader. |
| Civil Rights Leaders Meet with President Kennedy | Photograph of Civil Rights Leaders meeting with President Kennedy in the Oval Office, 1963. |
| Civil Rights Era at St. John's Church | The Civil Rights Era at St. John's Church from "The Half Had Not Been Told Me: African Americans on Lafayette Square" cell phone tour. |
| 712 Jackson Place | Murder or self-defense? Will justice be served on Jackson Place? |
| "The First President to Entertain a Negro, Booker T. Washington Dined" | Article from African American newspaper reporting on Booker T. Washington's dinner with President Theodore Roosevelt. |
| "Monument of a Crime - Department of Justice Deserts a Fateful Building" | Transcription of an 1899 newspaper article about the failure of the Freedman's Bank of the demolition of the building. |
