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| A 1964 photo of African-Americans protesting Robert C. Byrd for filibustering the Civil Rights Act bill. (source) |
Leading the Democrats in their opposition to civil rights for African-Americans was Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) (wiki). Byrd, who got into politics as a recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan. At 9:51 on the morning of June 10, 1964, Senator Byrd completed an address that he had begun 14 hours and 13 minutes earlier.
Democrats still call Robert Byrd “the conscience of the Senate.”
As Senator Byrd took his seat, Georgia Democrat Richard Russell offered the final arguments in opposition. Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, who had enlisted the Republican votes that made cloture a realistic option, called on the Democrats to end their filibuster and accept racial equality.
He spoke for the proponents with his customary eloquence, "The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing in government, in education, and in employment. It will not be stayed or denied. It is here!" Never in history had the Senate been able to muster enough votes to cut off a filibuster on a civil rights bill. Nine days later the Senate approved the act itself—producing one of the 20th century's towering legislative achievements.
Much more detail on the Civil Rights bills (there were four of them) and the back and forth on approving the 1964 version here.
Related: Here's a bit of Americana for you - the 1920's KKK Application Form.
