On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader and activist Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Following his assassination, amid a wave of riots in more than 100 cities across the United States, President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) increased pressure on Congress to pass additional civil rights legislation. Hoping for passage before King’s funeral on April 9, LBJ argued that the Civil Rights Act of 1968 would be a fitting testament to King and his legacy.
Despite the strides made during the Civil Rights Movement, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, race-based housing patterns remained an obstacle in the late 1960s. While Black American and Mexican American members of the U.S. military fought and died for their country in Vietnam, their family members at home had trouble renting or purchasing homes in residential areas because of their race or national origin.