This year marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The long-debated and filibustered act was enacted to prohibit discrimination in employment based on a person’s race, religion, sex, age, disability or national origin. It also prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs.
This milestone legislation aimed to extend political, legal and civil rights to African Americans at a time when Black people were prevented from using the same swimming pools and libraries as white people, attending the same schools, sitting with white people in movie theaters or drinking from the same water fountains as white people in many places. The sweeping act has been revised and updated over the years, but many say it’s been enforced unevenly and watered down recently.
Charlotte attorney James Ferguson was about to enter law school at Columbia Law School in New York when the 1964 act went into effect. Ferguson went on to establish the first integrated law firm in North Carolina and was an attorney in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled that busing could be used to desegregate Charlotte’s public schools.
In this interview with WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn, Ferguson reflects on his thoughts when the act was signed and where we're headed now.
James Ferguson: I knew it meant a lot. One reason for that was that I majored in history in undergraduate school, but more importantly, I remembered leading a group to desegregate lunch counters in my hometown, Asheville, N.C.
Gwendolyn Glenn: Tell me about that.
Ferguson: When I was a senior in high school at the all-Black high school in Asheville, Stephens Lee High. And along with several of my high school friends, we wanted to do something to desegregate lunch counters in Asheville so we would be able to get a hot dog or snack at the lunch counters downtown. So, we were prepared to do sit-ins, but we negotiated with the store managers and lunch counter managers, and they agreed to serve us because they didn't want us to engage in sit-ins.
Glenn: Now the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a very, very important act. You were in law school when it was signed. How did you think it would change things?
Ferguson: Well, I thought it was gonna make major changes. And I was excited about it because I went to law school because I wanted to do civil rights work. Honestly, I thought it meant that public facilities would open up, job opportunities would open up and society would open up in a way that we would not have been accustomed to going up in the South. And it did.
Glenn: Now the Civil Rights Act was supposed to level the playing field. Do you think that it did that?
Ferguson: It didn't do that, but it was a giant step in that direction. The playing field hasn't been level yet, but there has been steady progress that has been made since the 1964 Civil Rights Act and other acts that followed that, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965. So there have been tremendous steps taken, but there was such a long way to go to begin to recognize even basic rights for our people who have been denied rights for centuries.
Glenn: What do you see as the act's most significant accomplishments? In what areas — housing, education, employment, desegregation — (which) of these things do you think that it had the most significant effect?
Ferguson: It's hard to say which had the most because they all had significant effects. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, opening up public facilities; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, increased opportunities for participating in voting and politics has been tremendous. So it's been a steady increase since things did start. Of course, I have to mention that a half-century before you had the Civil Rights Act of 1865, 1866, but nothing much happened as a result of those. It was at least a half-century after that that we begin to see any meaningful change in the way Blacks were treated in our society.
Glenn: What do you see as some of the biggest areas where it failed, and why do you think it failed in those areas?
Ferguson: Well, the biggest area that has failed has been in economics. When you look at the earning capacity and the wealth of whites versus Blacks, then you find a vast difference — and that's something that will change and it's changing, but it's slow and long overdue.
Glenn: Looking at it 60 years ago and today, the attacks on civil rights and voting rights and various things that the Civil Rights Act laid the groundwork for, do you think it is at risk of being reversed?
Ferguson: I don't think it's at risk of actually being revoked, although it gets scary sometimes and there are people who would like to see us go backwards rather than forward. But the time is moving in the direction of greater participation. It just hasn't happened as quickly and as steadily as it should have, but it's coming. It's not going to turn all the way around. There will be, as there has been, resistance.
Glenn: And I asked that because prior to the death of Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, I remember him saying "I never would have thought that more than 50 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, that I'd still be out here in the trenches fighting for those rights."
Ferguson: Well, and he's right about that. I never would have thought that there would still be an issue, but it remains an issue. And fortunately, many people, most of all Black people and an increasing number of white people, who understand that we have to embrace it.
Glenn: And I asked that because when you look at what's happening in the school systems, in terms of teaching students about African American history and what is happening with DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — the banning of DEI offices from UNC system campuses. That would seem to be a strike against what the Civil Rights Act stood for. Do you agree?
Ferguson: It is a strike against it, but it is not a strike that's gonna turn the tide or change the progress.
Glenn: So, sounds like you are optimistic about the future.
Ferguson: Well, we have to be optimistic. And when we look at it historically, there's every reason to be optimistic. We have to remember that we Black people came to this country having no rights.
Glenn: And what about the U.S. Supreme Court and decisions that the court is making? What do you think is the role the Supreme Court is playing in the effectiveness of the Civil Rights Act?
Ferguson: Things have slowed down and they're probably going to be slowed down for a while, given the color and makeup of the Supreme Court that we have. And just as the pendulum has swung against civil rights, the pendulum will swing again toward further movement until we do reach that ideal of having civil rights for all people. It's slow but sure.
Glenn: Do you think that there is a role Congress needs to play to strengthen?
Ferguson: Absolutely. Absolutely. The Congress has always played a role. Congress continues to play a role, but Congress cannot do it alone. The Supreme Court cannot do it alone. The executive branch cannot do it alone. But all of them are moving slowly, but moving, and we're gonna get there. We have to. Because not only the whole country, but the whole world has its eyes on what's gonna happen in America and the current presidential race is a factor in that. And that will have a lot to say about who we are as a country, what kind of progress we're gonna make, and how long it's gonna take to get where we need to be. But we will get there.
Glenn: Anything else you'd like to add that I did not ask you about the 60th anniversary?
Ferguson: Well, I think the 60th anniversary is another opportunity for us to look at, not just to where we are, but where we've been and how far we've come. And we have to continue to seek to make America the country that it is supposed to be. We have to work together as a nation, as a country, as a people to make sure those rights are fully enforced and finally enforced for everybody.
