Subjects – Civil Rights
Representative Robert Elliott of South Carolina
August 11, 1842
On this date, African-American Representative Robert Elliott of South Carolina was likely born to West Indian parents in Liverpool, England.
The Civil Rights Bill of 1866
April 09, 1866
On this date, the House overrode President Andrew Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 with near unanimous Republican support, 122 to 41, marking the first time Congress legislated upon civil rights.
The Civil Rights Act of 1875
February 04, 1875
On this date, the House passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 by a vote of 162 to 99.
The repeal of the Twenty-One Day rule
January 03, 1951
On this date, at the opening of the 82nd Congress (1951–1953), the House repealed the “Twenty-One Day Rule” by a vote of 243 to 180.
Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., of New York re-election support of President Eisenhower
October 11, 1956
On this date, Democrat Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., of New York announced his campaign support of Republican presidential incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
June 18, 1957
On this date, the House of Representatives passed the initial version of what eventually became the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
The first successful write-in candidate in House history
November 04, 1958
On this date in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dr. Thomas Alford became the first Representative in congressional history to be elected by a write-in vote.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
July 02, 1964
On this date, the House of Representatives passed the final version of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
An extraordinary Joint Session of Congress to support a landmark voting rights bill of 1965
March 15, 1965
On this date, in response to a brutal assault by local officials against civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon B. Johnson held an extraordinary Joint Session of Congress to garner support for a landmark voting rights bill.
Majority Whip Hale Boggs’ support of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
July 09, 1965
On this date, Representative Hale Boggs of Louisiana took to the House Floor to make a stirring speech in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
August 03, 1965
On this date, by a vote of 328 to 74, the House approved the Voting Rights Act (VRA)—a landmark in the long civil rights movement.
The Comprehensive Apartheid Act
September 29, 1986
On this date, a strong bipartisan coalition in the House overrode President Ronald Reagan’s veto of the Comprehensive Apartheid Act by a vote of 313 to 83.
Congressional override of a veto by President Ronald Reagan
March 22, 1988
On this date, by a vote of 292 to 133, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in overriding President Ronald Reagan’s veto of S. 557.
The honoring of civil rights icon Rosa Parks
October 30, 2005
On this date, civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was honored in the U.S. Capitol.