Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 established the bipartisan Commission of Civil Rights. The purpose of the commission was to investigate and appraise situations in which a citizen was being deprived of their right to vote due to their color, race, religion, or national origin with respect to Federal law and “equal protection” of the law. The Act aslo created the position of Assitant Attorney General who would aid in civil rights matters. However, the Act failed to eliminate literacy tests and prequalification that states had been making since the 15th Amendment. Additionally the Act made no mention of the desegregation of schools. The failure of Congress to address school desegregation in the Civil Rights Act of 1957 allowed for “all deliberate speed” from Brown v. Board to continue to be loosely interpreted. This greatly effected schools across America in towns like Mansfield Texas, where only a year before Thurgood Marshall had won Jackson v. Rawdon court case ordering the integration of Mansfiled High. With the aid of southern Democrat Allan Shivers, it failed. In fact, it was because of the southern Democrats that The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was diluted and watered-down. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 did so little in actually giving rights and liberties to oppressed persons in America, that Congress passed another Civil Rights Act in 1960.