civil rights act of 1957
This was enacted on September 9, 1957 and was the very first civil rights bill to be enacted by the Congress of the United States of America. Originally, it was for equal voting rights, but the government had difficulty enforcing it. By 1960, African American voting only increased by 3% from 1957 (from about 20% to about 23% of African Americans in the U.S.). This led to the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968.