The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 represented precisely such a hope - that America had learned from its past and acted to secure a better tomorrow.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 laid the foundation for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but it also addressed nearly every other aspect of daily life in a would-be free democratic society.
During past years, like frightened children, we were afraid to eat the strong meat of human rights and instead sucked the milk of civil rights from the breasts of white liberals, black Uncle Toms, and Aunt Jemimas.
It was not until the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s that Congress got serious about the assignment laid out in the post-Civil War amendments.
The civil rights and antiwar movements taught Americans to question authority.
Age discrimination is illegal. But when compared with discrimination against racial minorities and women, it is a second-class civil rights issue.
In the 1960s, the civil rights movement was about getting to know your culture, your history. I know all about my history.
Soul lyrics, soul music came at about the same time as the civil rights movement, and it's very possible that one influenced the other.
I am a Minnesotan, and not just because I root for the Vikings and the Twins. I like the Minnesota-nice sensibility. I like the liberal tradition; I like the Hubert Humphrey tradition fighting for civil rights.