Civil Rights Act of 1960 74 Stat. 86
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1960 74 Stat. 86
The insignificance and ineffectiveness of the civil rights act of 1957 generated pressure in the next Congress to enact a more effective civil rights law. And the civilrights commission established by the 1957 act added to the pressure by issuing a report documenting the abridgment of black voting rights in the South.
As enacted, the 1960 act required state election officers to retain for twenty-two months records relating to voter registration and qualifications in elections of federal officials. Where courts found patterns or practices of abridgment of the right to vote on account of race, they were authorized to declare individuals qualified to vote and to appoint federal voting referees to take evidence and report to the court on the treatment of black voters.
In a provision originally aimed at interference with school desegregation decrees, the act imposed criminal penalties for obstruction of all court orders. It also created a federal criminal offense of interstate flight to avoid prosecution for destroying buildings or other property.
Like the 1957 act, the 1960 act is noteworthy for its failure to include a proposed provision authorizing the United States to initiate actions on behalf of persons deprived of civil rights.
Theodore Eisenberg
(1986)
Bibliography
Brauer, Carl M. 1977 John F. Kennedy and the Second Reconstruction. New York: Columbia University Press.