NY Governor Signs Two Early Anti-Discrimination Bills into Law
New York State passed two early civil rights laws, and the governor signed them into law on this day.
One law barred race discrimination in defense industries, and the second gave the State Industrial Commission the power to investigate charges of racial discrimination in employment. These laws are among the first to bar race discrimination in the U.S.
New York State had previously added an anti-discrimination clause to its state Constitution on August 10, 1938. And New York City on December 5 1957 was the first city in the nation to enact a fair housing law barring discrimination in the sale and rental of housing.
Discrimination in employment on the basis of race did not become U.S. policy until the passage of the historic 1964 Civil Rights Act, which President Lyndon Johnson signed on July 2, 1964. Title VII of the law prohibited discrimination in employment.
Learn more about African American history: Henry Louis Gates, Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 (2011)
Read about the history of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: Todd Purdom, An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (2014)
Learn about the different types of employment discrimination from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) here
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here