The Civil Rights Act of 1957
![handle is hein.journals/howlj4 and id is 38 raw text is: THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957
DORSEY EDW. LANE*
N THE summer of 1957 the scene of the unfolding story of Civil
Rights shifted from the courts of the land to the Halls of Con-
gress. Congressional actors be-stirred themselves, faced up to the
core of the basic issue in today's world, and for the first time since
the immediate post Civil War era brought forth legislation' designed
to implement fundamental rights protected and secured by the Consti-
tution of the United States.
As is well.known, the passage of the Act through the congressional
mill was fraught with emotional turbulence and verbal pyrotechnics.
It was not passed in haste. On the contrary, extensive hearings were
held on the substance of the matter; and within the framework of
practicality, all articulate groups in favor and all opposed, who chose
to speak, were heard.' Extensive debate in the House and Senate
followed these hearings. In this setting, as was fairly obvious to all
who ventured to predict, the resultant legislation necessarily followed
lines of compromise. To the Southern bloc, it was all they would
take; to those who sought its passage, it was the minimum worth
fighting for. Viewed in haste, a general impression arises that except
as a break-through by civil rights supporters on the legislative front,
little actual advance beyond previously existing civil rights legisla-
tion was made. A reflective analysis of the act, however, gives rise to
the notion that they builded better than they knew.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is divided into five parts. The first
establishes a Commission on Civil Rights. The second provides for
an additional Assistant Attorney-General in the Department of Justice.
The third is designed to strengthen previously existing Civil Rights
Legislation and to provide for certain technical jurisdictional require-
ments. Part four makes provision for further securing and protecting
the right to vote. Finally, part five secures a limited right to trial by
jury in cases of criminal contempt arising out of conduct interdicted
by the Act, and, further, broadens the base of qualifications for jury
service in federal courts.
THE COMMISSION
The six-member Commission is constituted a part of the executive
branch of the national government.3 The Commissioners are presi-
*Assistant Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law.
1 71 Stat. 634 (1957).
2 House Report No. 291, Apr. 1, 1957 [To accompany H.R. 6127]; U.S. Code, Cong.
& Adm. News, p. 3503 (August, 1957).
3 § 101 (a), (b).
As now constituted the Commission is composed of three Democrats, former gover-](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/howlj4&div=6&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Civil Rights Act of 1957
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