We Shall Overcome The Politics of Civil Rights, May 1963 to August 1964

This is a study of the civil rights policies of the §Kennedy and Johnson administrations.It examines the §period from May 1963 to August 1964, which §witnessed radical changes in presidential policy §agendas on civil rights. By the summer of 1964 with §the passage of both the Civil Rights Act and §the Economic Opportunity Act, the Johnson §administration had responded to African-American §demands that the federal government pass wide-§ranging legislation to address both constitutional §and socio-economic inequality.This book highlights §the importance of long-term national §developments, which witnessed the established civil §rights organisations, in particular the NAACP, §becoming integral partners in the national New Deal§coalition before the advent of the mass civil §rights movement of the early 1960s. §Civil rights organisations viewed the §constitutional and socio-economic civil rights §agendas as being inseparable during 1963 and 1964. §Moreover, these organisations were able to exert §their power as a key constituency within the §New Deal coalition to persuade the Johnson §administration to accede immediately to their §demands for civil rights laws.