The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
It ended legal segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination, following years of work by civil rights leaders and ordinary citizens.
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Visit the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis or the Smithsonian African American history museum in Washington, D.C. to learn more.
Equal Protection
The law helped make the promise of equal rights real for millions of Americans.