This day in history, on April 11th, The Civil Rights Act of 1968- popularly known as the Fair Housing Act– was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex. Intended as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the bill was the subject of a contentious debate in the Senate, but was passed quickly by the House of Representatives in the days after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The act stands as the final great legislative achievement of the civil rights era.
