Eisenhower signs first civil rights act since Reconstruction

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957 on September 9, 1957. The law creates the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department and authorizes federal action to protect voting rights. The law is limited after Senate compromise, but it marks the first federal civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It gives the federal government new tools to investigate and respond to racial voting discrimination. Congress reopens congressional civil rights lawmaking after decades of Jim Crow and sets the stage for stronger laws in the 1960s.