Our progress on civil rights and against discrimination has been one of the finest chapters in the Nations modem history. The civil rights revolution that began in the 1950s is an unfinished revolution. and we all know the major milestones along the way in Congress: the Civil Rights Act of 1957. the Civil Rights Act of 1964. the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and subsequent extensions. the Fair Housing Act of 1968: the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. I might also mention the Immigration Act of 1965 which addressed the problem of national origin quotas and barriers to people coming into the United States from the Pacific basin and the Pacific rim countries. Madam President. we remember as well the battles that have taken placethe painful history that includes slavery. the Jim Crow laws. the Japanese internment camps. the Chinese exclusion laws. the Bracero program. and shameful policies and attitudes directed against women. against racial and religious minorities. and against the disabled. Each bill is an acknowledgment that America can rise above its prejudice to be a better. more tolerant society. Our country has a respected tradition of enacting antidiscrimination legislation to deal with discrimination against recognized groups of people.
Keywords matched
Chinese exclusion national origin quota Immigration