On Friday, June 13 at 7:00 pm, the public is invited to the Marion Music Hall, as historian Gary Sousa presents The Civil Rights Act – Fifty Years Later. In 1964, Congress passed Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241), the groundbreaking legislation commonly known as the Civil Rights Act. The Act forbids discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race in hiring, promoting, and firing, making it unlawful for an employer to “fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions or privileges or employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Title VII of the Act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to implement the law.
Mr. Sousa, a history instructor at Tabor Academy since 2005, will examine the struggle for racial and gender equality in the United States, and the ways in which the 1964 legislation has both succeeded and failed in addressing that struggle. Sousa holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan University. In addition to teaching, coaching and serving as a dorm parent, he advises Tabor’s Model U.N. program.
Co-sponsored by the Sippican Historical Society and the Elizabeth Taber Library, Mr. Sousa’s lecture is offered free to the public, with no registration required. Parking is available across from the Marion Music Hall at Island Wharf Park. For more information, please call the SHS at 509-748-1116.