The 1968 U.S. law prohibiting housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin was the Fair Housing Act.
The law was enacted as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. It prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing on several protected grounds. Later amendments expanded its protections to include sex, disability, and familial status.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation on April 11, 1968, one week after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Congress passed it during a period of nationwide unrest and renewed debate about racial inequality.
The Fair Housing Act did not instantly eliminate segregation or unequal access to housing. Enforcement, local resistance, lending practices, and historical discrimination continued to shape housing patterns long afterward.