Which U.S. law, signed in 1964, outlawed segregation in public accommodations?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed segregation in public accommodations and banned discrimination in several areas of American life.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the law on July 2, 1964, after a lengthy congressional battle. Title II prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in hotels, restaurants, theaters, and other places of public accommodation. The act also addressed employment discrimination, school desegregation, and federally funded programs.

The legislation followed decades of activism and organizing, including the Montgomery bus boycott, the March on Washington, Freedom Rides, sit-ins, and campaigns in Birmingham and Mississippi. President John F. Kennedy had proposed civil-rights legislation in 1963, and Johnson pushed the bill through Congress after Kennedy’s assassination.

The act is distinct from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which targeted barriers to voting, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which addressed housing discrimination. Together, these laws reshaped federal civil-rights enforcement during the 1960s.