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The Fair Housing Act was signed today in 1968 — six days after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
The Fair Housing Act had been stalled in Congress for two years. Opponents — including many Northern Democrats — had blocked it repeatedly. Then, on April 4, 1968, King was shot in Memphis. The shock and the uprising that followed changed the political calculus overnight.
President Johnson signed the bill on April 11. But the law that finally passed was significantly weaker than advocates had sought. Enforcement mechanisms were toothless. The Department of Housing and Urban Development had no power to issue cease-and-desist orders. Complaints had to go through lengthy court processes that few families could afford.
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