The 1968 rebellions broke the congressional deadlock that passed the Fair Housing Act

Evidence

In this centuries-long tradition of protest there have been hundreds of uprisings in segregated Black communities. In the last century, some have produced substantive change. After the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968, rebellions erupted in more than one hundred cities, and fear that the country teetered on the brink of civil war broke the congressional deadlock over the Fair Housing Act. The bill, which prohibited housing discrimination on the basis of race, gender, or religion, among other categories, made it illegal to deny people housing simply because they descended from those who had been enslaved. Though King had fought hard for the bill, white congressional representatives from the North had joined with representatives from the South to block its passage. Many considered the proposed law the “Northern” civil rights bill, because racial segregation in the North had largely been accomplished through housing discrimination. Seven days after King’s death, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act into law from the smoldering capital, which remained under the protection of the National Guard. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1317

Categorization

• SEED: An article angle: how the specter of imminent civil war, not moral persuasion, is what historically unlocks major civil rights legislation — a pattern the reader could test against other bills.
• CANDY: The Fair Housing Act was considered the ‘Northern’ civil rights bill because northern segregation ran through housing — a compact, surprising framing.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: did the Fair Housing Act actually make it illegal to deny housing ‘because they descended from those who had been enslaved’? The wording is oddly specific.