Civil Rights Act Establishes a Federal Civil Rights Commission and Strengthens Voting Rights Protections (1957)

Date: January 3, 1957

Created By: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, Civil Rights

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: Record Officer Reports to President on Pending Legislation, Box 111, Civil Rights HR 6127; NAID #12171136

This document is the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first federal civil rights legislation enacted since Reconstruction. The law created the United States Commission on Civil Rights, a bipartisan commission authorized to investigate allegations that American citizens were being denied the right to vote because of their race, color, religion, or national origin. The Commission could hold hearings, gather testimony, examine federal civil rights policies, and report its findings and recommendations to the president and Congress.

The Act also strengthened the federal government’s ability to protect voting rights. It established an additional Assistant Attorney General within the Department of Justice and expanded federal authority to seek court orders against individuals or officials interfering with a citizen’s right to vote. The legislation also established procedures for federal courts to enforce voting protections and addressed jury selection in federal courts. Pages four through six contain these provisions concerning federal enforcement of voting rights and court procedures.

Although the law’s enforcement powers were limited compared with later civil rights legislation, the document represents an important expansion of the federal government’s role in protecting civil rights. It provides students with the actual legislative language behind one of the major civil rights accomplishments of the Eisenhower administration and demonstrates how the federal government began building institutions and legal mechanisms that would play larger roles during the Civil Rights Movement.