Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII

Enacted by the 88th U.S. Congress and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 2 July 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Title VII specifically prohibits discriminatory employment practices, covering employers with fifteen or more employees, and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce it. Its provisions became effective one year after enactment, on 2 July 1965, and were later amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.