Civil Rights Act 60th -- Partners Toolkit

Signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (LBJ Library photo by Cecil Stoughton)

In July 1776, the framers of the Declaration of Independence laid out a revolutionary vision around human equality and fundamental rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Guided by this vision, subsequent generations—abolitionists, suffragists, civil rights activists, and countless others in the centuries since the nation’s founding—have struggled to achieve these ideals and ensure their availability to all Americans. A benchmark moment came in July 1964 when new landmark legislation enshrined civil rights in American law. The 1964 Civil Rights Act was not the first legislative action to codify civil rights, and it did not end discrimination, but it advanced the nation’s founding ideals, and it opened the door to further progress.

Commemorating the 60th Anniversary

We continue to work to realize the dream—to realize the intention of the Civil Rights Act and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. In the first week of July, as we celebrate both Independence Day and the 60th anniversary the act, we’ll draw a line from the aspirational ideals of the Declaration to the goals of the Civil Rights Act, exploring how the act advanced those founding ideals and highlighting the work of generations of Americans to advance and achieve civil rights for all.

From Independence and Women’s Rights national historical parks, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, and many of our newest parks and more, so many places cared for by the NPS and our partners tell important parts of this story.

Ways to Engage

Join us! All parks, programs, and partners can participate! And we’ll especially highlight national parks whose legislated mission and purpose connect directly to the story of this struggle and encourage them and others to explore their connections to this theme.

• #CivilRightsAct60th -- Explore how your park or program connects with the concept above and post about it in social media. Feel free to share posts appearing on the NPS national social media accounts, too.

• Post events, articles, and other content on your website and share them via your social media.

• The Civil Rights subject site (short URL: nps.gov/civilrights) serves as the NPS.gov main page for the commemoration. For park web authors, as you create shared content and events, please remember to tag them civil rights to ensure they will appear on the site.

• Passport stamps will be available from Eastern National for the second half of the year after July 2. We'll post additional information here as it becomes available.