[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 18 (Monday, February 1, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E71]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 RECOGNIZING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KENTUCKY CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 
      1966 AND COMMENDING THE KENTUCKY COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN A. YARMUTH

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 1, 2016

  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 50th 
anniversary of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act of 1966, signed into law 
by Kentucky Governor Edward T. Breathitt on January 27, 1966. This 
pioneering legislation prohibited discrimination in employment and 
public accommodations based on race, color, national origin or 
religion, and I commend the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights for its 
steadfast work in enforcing it.
   Prior to passage of this measure, discrimination and segregation in 
employment and public accommodations was not only accepted as the norm 
in Kentucky, it was often required by state law. Countless Kentucky 
citizens from all walks of life bravely fought and patiently worked to 
achieve passage of the law, overcoming seemingly insurmountable 
obstacles and countless setbacks.
   Through their hard work, Kentucky became the first state south of 
the Mason-Dixon Line to enact civil rights legislation that not only 
prohibited discrimination in employment and public accommodations, but 
also included administrative and judicial enforcement powers. At the 
time of its passage, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed the 
Kentucky Civil Rights Act of 1966 to be ``. . . the strongest and most 
comprehensive civil rights bill passed by a southern state,'' and it 
rightly became a model for other states to enact legislation of their 
own.
   Since then, the Commission successfully expanded the law to prohibit 
discrimination in employment, public accommodations, housing, and 
credit transactions based on race, color, national origin, religion, 
age, sex, familial status, disability and smoking status. And in the 50 
years since the passage of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act, the Kentucky 
Commission on Human Rights has filed, investigated, and adjudicated 
more than eleven thousand complaints on discrimination on behalf of the 
citizens of Kentucky.
   Today, I want to commend the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights for 
their dedication to upholding this landmark legislation for the last 50 
years, and thank them for their tireless efforts to defeat 
discrimination throughout the Commonwealth.

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