The Content of Their Character

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Below is a picture of President Lyndon Johnson signing into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – one of the broadest-sweeping pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history – as Dr. King looks on. The date was July 2, 1964. Here’s video.

Title VII of that law (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.) embodies the very notions of equality and justice for which the great man fought so diligently and remains a powerful weapon for fighting discrimination in the workplace.

There are, of course, additional statutory protections against race discrimination, at least one of which (42 U.S.C. § 1981) predates the 1964 Act by almost a century.  However, it cannot be disputed that Dr. King’s activism and the passage of the later legislation were instrumental in significantly advancing workers’ rights.

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