In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law on national television. The legislation prohibited racial discrimination and outlawed segregation, and was widely hailed as a tremendous achievement in human rights. However lofty the aims, in reality, the Civil Rights Act has not created the kind of fundamental change its supporters, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, hoped. These leaders knew it would not be a smooth or easy transition, and now, 54 years later and in the midst of a mounting national democratic and humanitarian crisis perpetuated by entrenched racist powers, the progress made is slipping away at an alarming pace.

The IAS has a long history of programming centered around human rights, equity, and politics local, national, and global. To mark this momentous week we have selected three presentations, 2012's panel discussion Redlining in Minneapolis Real Estate: Jeff Crump, Ann Juergens, & Katherine Solomonson, 2016's Beyond the "Minnesota Miracle": Suppressed Stories and Solutions, a discussion with Minnesota scholars and community leaders in the wake of the Philando Castile shooting, and 2018's talk with Spencer Crew on the WPA Slave Narratives project, addressing enslavement from the viewpoint of the enslaved. When the Civil Rights Act was signed, there were still Americans living who had been born into slavery; the United States has made an effort to move beyond its bloody origins, but as current American history demonstrates, the wounds of its birth are far from healed.