Commission on Civil Rights Reports on Federal Cooperation and Investigations into Voting, Housing, and Education Discrimination (1959)

Date: February 27, 1959

Created By: No Author

Original or Replica: Original

Era: Civil Rights, The Presidency

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: E. Frederic Morrow Records, Box 10, Civil Rights Commission; NAID #12171139

This February 27, 1959 report describes cooperation between the executive branch and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which had been created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The report explains that the Commission was primarily a fact-finding body rather than an enforcement agency. Its responsibilities included investigating allegations that citizens were being denied voting rights, studying legal developments involving equal protection, evaluating federal laws and policies, and making recommendations to the president and Congress. The Commission identified voting, housing, and education as three major areas requiring investigation.

The report describes several early Commission activities. Federal departments were asked to provide information about their civil rights policies and practices. The Commission held a voting-rights hearing in Montgomery, Alabama, where it investigated complaints that Black citizens had been prevented from registering to vote. It also conducted a housing hearing in New York City examining racial, religious, and national-origin discrimination and planned a national conference in Nashville to study school desegregation following the Supreme Court’s decisions in the Segregation Cases.

The report also considers whether mediation and conciliation should become part of the federal government’s response to civil rights disputes. It concludes by recommending continued cooperation from the Cabinet and independent federal agencies and asking them to evaluate existing and future policies for their effects on civil rights. The document provides a detailed look at how the Civil Rights Act of 1957 began translating into federal investigations and administrative action during the Eisenhower presidency.