Shortly after President John F. Kennedy introduced what would later become the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Sen. Everett Dirksen looked back at nearly 200 years of race relations in America. From the beginning of the Republic, Dirksen examines constitutional provisions that affected slavery and the importation of slaves. He reviews the effects American actions early in the country's history had that continued through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the 20th century debates over expanded civil rights for Black Americans.
Part of Dirksen's "Your Senator Reports" series from June 1963.