Reflections on Civil Rights Act: Progress made, work still to do
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Fifty years ago, when the Civil Rights Act was signed into law July 2 by President Lyndon Johnson, two Louisiana-born men did not feel the earth move, but they knew it was the beginning of a time of change.Norman Francis, president for student affairs at Xavier University in New Orleans at the time, described the law's passage as part of a "watershed year."
After living for more than three decades "under Plessy" as he says, referring to the Supreme Court decision upholding racial segregation and "separate but equal" facilities, Francis said it was hard to imagine that he had graduated from law school but still "couldn't walk into the front door of a restaurant until 1964" when the civil rights law prohibited racial segregation in schools, workplaces and public facilities. Click here to continue reading