In this photograph, taken by National Park Service photographer Abbie Rowe on November 12, 1953, First Lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower receives officers from the National Council of Negro Women outside the North Door of the White House. As first lady, Mrs. Eisenhower accepted honorary membership in the organization and hosted the first White House reception for the National Council of Negro Women. Pictured here from left to right: Carmel Carrington Marr, Jane M. Spaulding, Mrs. Eisenhower, Daisy E. Lampkin, and Ruth Caston Mueller.

This is the first page of an Executive Order signed by President Harry S. Truman on July 26, 1948, declaring the equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin. The Executive Order established the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces. The purpose of the seven-member advisory committee was to oversee the rules, procedures, and practices of the armed forces to ensure that equality principles were followed and implemented.

This is the second page of an Executive Order signed by President Harry S. Truman on July 26, 1948, declaring the equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin. The Executive Order established the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces. The purpose of the seven-member advisory committee was to oversee the rules, procedures, and practices of the armed forces to ensure that equality principles were followed and implemented.

In this photograph, taken by O. J. Rapp on July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivers a televised address to the nation prior to signing into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The bill prohibited job discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, or national origin, ended segregation in public places, and the unequal application of voting requirements. In attendance at the ceremony were members of Congress and civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rep. Peter Rodino of New Jersey.

In this photograph, taken by Cecil Stoughton on June 24, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with leaders from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the Cabinet Room of the West Wing. In attendance was Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP, and over 30 members of the organization's senior leadership including members of the NAACP Board of Directors and vice presidents. The leaders had gathered in Washington, D.C. for the 55th annual convention of the NAACP, where they sought protection from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the federal government for African Americans in Mississippi following the disappearance of civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who were later confirmed to be murdered.

In this photograph, taken by Abbie Rowe on June 23, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower receives a group of civil rights leaders in the Oval Office. The leaders met with President Eisenhower to present a program of nine recommendations to aid in the relief of racial tension, violence, and discrimination. The group also commended President Eisenhower for mobilizing the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army to escort and protect African American students during the Little Rock Crisis, as well as his role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Pictured in this photograph from left to right: Lester B. Granger, executive secretary, National Urban League; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., president, Southern Christian Leadership Conference; E. Frederic Morrow, presidential executive assistant and speechwriter; President Eisenhower; A. Philip Randolph, international president, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Attorney General William P. Rogers; Rocco C. Siciliano, special assistant to the president for personnel management; and Roy Wilkins, president, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

This photograph of President John F. Kennedy meeting with civil rights leaders was taken by Warren K. Leffler on August 28, 1963. The leaders met with President Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson after participating in the March for Jobs and Freedom. This photograph shows (left to right): Mathew H. Ahmann, National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice; Whitney M. Young, National Urban League; Martin Luther King, Jr., Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and future congressman for Georgia's 5th District; Rabbi Joachim Prinz, American Jewish Congress; Reverend Eugene Carson Blake, United Presbyterian Church; A. Philip Randolph, AFL-CIO; President John F. Kennedy; Walter Reuther, of the United Auto Workers, with Vice President Johnson partially visible behind him; and Roy Wilkins (NAACP). Secretary of Labor Willard Wirtz and Floyd B. McKissick of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) were also present but are not shown.

This photograph is of President Lyndon B. Johnson delivering remarks in the Capitol Rotunda prior to the signing ceremony for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which took place on August 6, 1965. The bill was signed in the President's Room. The Voting Rights Act was designed to the "enforce the 15th amendment" and remove the barriers that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The statue's provisions included: banning literacy tests, empowering the attorney general to investigate the unlawful use of poll taxes, and made the act of harassing, intimidating, threatening to prevent a lawfully registered voter from voting punishable by a fine of up $10,000, a five-year prison sentence or both. The legislation also allowed for the appointment of federal examiners with the ability to register qualified citizens to vote in jurisdictions where less than 50 percent of the voting age population was registered to vote. This legislation had a tremendous and immediate impact with over a quarter-million African Americans registered to vote by the end of 1965.

This photograph is of President Lyndon B. Johnson delivering remarks in the Capitol Rotunda prior to the signing ceremony for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which took place on August 6, 1965. The bill was signed in the President's Room. The Voting Rights Act was designed to the "enforce the 15th amendment" and remove the barriers that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The statue's provisions included: banning literacy tests, empowering the attorney general to investigate the unlawful use of poll taxes, and made the act of harassing, intimidating, threatening to prevent a lawfully registered voter from voting punishable by a fine of up $10,000, a five-year prison sentence or both. The legislation also allowed for the appointment of federal examiners with the ability to register qualified citizens to vote in jurisdictions where less than 50 percent of the voting age population was registered to vote. This legislation had a tremendous and immediate impact with over a quarter-million African Americans registered to vote by the end of 1965.

This photograph is of President Lyndon B. Johnson delivering remarks in the Capitol Rotunda prior to the signing ceremony for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which took place on August 6, 1965. The bill was signed in the President's Room. The Voting Rights Act was designed to the "enforce the 15th amendment" and remove the barriers that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The statue's provisions included: banning literacy tests, empowering the attorney general to investigate the unlawful use of poll taxes, and made the act of harassing, intimidating, threatening to prevent a lawfully registered voter from voting punishable by a fine of up $10,000, a five-year prison sentence or both. The legislation also allowed for the appointment of federal examiners with the ability to register qualified citizens to vote in jurisdictions where less than 50 percent of the voting age population was registered to vote. This legislation had a tremendous and immediate impact with over a quarter-million African Americans registered to vote by the end of 1965.

In this photograph, taken in the Oval Office on January 18, 1964 by Yoichi R. Okamoto, President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with a group of civil rights leaders. Among the group are the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (left), Whitney M. Young, Jr. of the National Urban League (right), and James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality (far right).

This black-and-white photograph, taken by Cecil Stougton on March 11, 1965, shows twelve young protesters staging a sit-in demonstration in the Ground Floor Corridor of the White House. The demonstrators were protesting on behalf of civil rights for African Americans, following violence by law enforcement officers on nonviolent demonstrators in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. The protesters entered the White House through the visitor’s entrance as part of regularly scheduled visitor hours from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. At 4:55pm, President Lyndon B. Johnson summoned Secret Service Agent Rufus Youngblood with instructions to remove the protesters.

This black-and-white photograph, taken by Cecil Stougton on March 11, 1965, shows twelve young protesters staging a sit-in demonstration in the East Garden Room. The demonstrators were protesting on behalf of civil rights for African Americans, following violence by law enforcement officers on nonviolent demonstrators in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. The protesters entered the White House through the visitor’s entrance as part of regularly scheduled visitor hours from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. At 4:55pm, President Lyndon B. Johnson summoned Secret Service Agent Rufus Youngblood with instructions to remove the protesters.

This black-and-white photograph, taken by Cecil Stoughton on March 11, 1965, shows twelve young protesters staging a sit-in demonstration in the East Garden Room. The demonstrators were protesting on behalf of civil rights for African Americans, following violence by law enforcement officers on nonviolent demonstrators in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965. The protesters entered the White House through the visitor’s entrance as part of regularly scheduled visitor hours from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. At 4:55pm, President Lyndon B. Johnson summoned Secret Service Agent Rufus Youngblood with instructions to remove the protesters.

In this photograph, taken by Yoichi R. Okamoto on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the President's Room of the Capitol building while Civil Rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. look on. The Voting Rights Act was designed to the "enforce the 15th amendment" and remove the barriers that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote. The statue's provisions included: banning literacy tests, empowering the attorney general to investigate the unlawful use of poll taxes, and made the act of harassing, intimidating, threatening to prevent a lawfully registered voter from voting punishable by a fine of up $10,000, a five-year prison sentence or both. The legislation also allowed for the appointment of federal examiners with the ability to register qualified citizens to vote in jurisdictions where less than 50 percent of the voting age population was registered to vote. This legislation had a tremendous and immediate impact with over a quarter-million African Americans registered to vote by the end of 1965.

This photograph, taken on March 12, 1965, shows African American demonstrators holding a protest near the White House. The protesters carry signs condemning police brutality and demanding the right to vote. The protest was held in response to violence by police against civil rights protesters in Selma, Alabama. On March 7, 1965, protesters marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama were assaulted by police, in what became known as "Bloody Sunday."

This photograph is of Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black congratulating Thurgood Marshall after swearing him in as the first African-American Solicitor General. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Black and Marshall are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.

This photograph is of Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black congratulating Thurgood Marshall after swearing him in as the first African-American Solicitor General. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Black and Marshall are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.

This photograph is of federal judge Thurgood Marshall's swearing-in as the first African-American Solicitor General by Hugo L. Black, associate justice of the Supreme Court. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Marshall and Black are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.

This photograph is of federal judge Thurgood Marshall's swearing-in as the first African-American Solicitor General by Hugo L. Black, associate justice of the Supreme Court. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Marshall and Black are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.

This photograph is of federal judge Thurgood Marshall's swearing-in as the first African-American Solicitor General by Hugo L. Black, associate justice of the Supreme Court. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Marshall and Black are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.

This photograph is of federal judge Thurgood Marshall's swearing-in as the first African-American Solicitor General by Hugo L. Black, associate justice of the Supreme Court. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Marshall and Black are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.

This photograph is of federal judge Thurgood Marshall's swearing-in as the first African-American Solicitor General by Hugo L. Black, associate justice of the Supreme Court. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Marshall and Black are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.

This photograph is of federal judge Thurgood Marshall's swearing-in as the first African-American Solicitor General by Hugo L. Black, associate justice of the Supreme Court. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Marshall and Black are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.

This photograph is of federal judge Thurgood Marshall's swearing-in as the first African-American Solicitor General by Hugo L. Black, associate justice of the Supreme Court. The event took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 24, 1965. Marshall would go on to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Photographed alongside Marshall and Black are President Lyndon B. Johnson and Marshall's family: wife Cecilia Marshall and sons Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and John W. Marshall.