In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act was established to: enforce the constitutional right to vote, give jurisdiction to the district courts of the United States to preside over discrimination in public accommodations, to give power to the Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission of Equal Employment Opportunity, among other purposes. Title VII of this act specifically states that an employer can not use race, religion, color, sex, national origin, or pregnancy as a basis for hiring, firing, compensation and benefits, job assignments, employee classification, transfer, promotion, layoff or recall, training, use of company facilities retirement plan or leave. .
There are numerous things that lead up to the development and implementation of Title VII and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most important expansion of the civil rights movement was the development of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. Many parts of the U.S. skirted around this amendment by enacting "black codes" which again limited the rights of the slaves. In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was issued to counter the "black codes." It was to ensure that no state enact any laws that would jeopardize or limit the privileges of any citizens of the United States. Congress established numerous civil rights statutes during the "reconstruction era." They included such acts as the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This act prohibits paying wages based on sex by employers and unions. It enforces equal pay for equal work. However, it does not prohibit other discriminatory practices bias in hiring. The most prominent since then is the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act not only covers employment, but also discrimination in a public places and eventually grew to include public schools and colleges.