Which 1968 U.S. law prohibited discrimination in housing sales and rentals?
Answer
Fair Housing Act
The 1968 U.S. law that prohibited discrimination in housing sales and rentals was the Fair Housing Act.
The law is Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. It prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, or national origin. Later amendments added protections including sex, familial status, and disability.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act on April 11, 1968, one week after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. King and other activists had made open housing a major issue, particularly during the Chicago Freedom Movement.
The act addressed practices such as racial steering, discriminatory advertising, and refusal to rent or sell. Enforcement has involved the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Justice, and private lawsuits. The law prohibited discrimination, but residential segregation and unequal access to housing did not disappear immediately.