The Civil Rights Act of 1964: 60 Years Later

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: 60 Years Later is the most recent iteration of the State Of Black America report, which the National Urban League regularly publishes.  Reports from 2011 are available online.

“Since its first appearance in 1976 under the stewardship of the late Mr. Vernon E. Jordan Jr., the organization’s fifth president, the State of Black America® remains one of the most highly-anticipated benchmarks and
sources for thought leadership around racial equality in America. The report explores the inequities across America’s economics, employment, education, health, housing, criminal justice, and civic participation systems through research and the words of our contributors.”

The headline from the CBS Mornings interview with Marc H. Morial, NUL president and CEO, is embodied in the graphic Black–White Equality Index Broken Down by Category. “The 2024 Equality Index of Black America stands at 75.7%, an improvement of 1.8 percentage points from the 2022 index of 73.9%.” By their matrix, this is the discrepancy that Black Americans experience compared to White Americans. 

Some areas are more encouraging than others. The score for Civic Engagement, 10% of the overall grade is 95.6%. Conversely, Social Justice, another 10% of the grade, is only 55.7%. 

JRB Jr.

This year’s report includes:  The National Urban League Evaluates the Biden Administration’s Performance Three Years In. For people struggling to cite Joe’s accomplishments, this is a source. It notes The American Rescue Plan, The Inflation Reduction Act, The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and The CHIPS and Science Act. “The Minority Business Development Agency became a statutory agency for the first time, a 30-year goal of the National Urban League.” On the other hand, The Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act have yet to be passed in Congress.

I imagine the document will be considered partisan since Biden is listed as a contributor. Read his essay, My Vision for the Future: A Democracy with Dignity. 

His Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, wrote a piece for the 2023 report, Energy Justice for All: Our Collective Imperative. The outgoing HUD secretary Marcia Fudge wrote Ensuring Social and Economic Justice on Behalf of Communities of Color in 2021.

This topic interests me, and I imagine I’ll be checking it out annually. 

Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto. View all posts by Roger