Document 6: National Woman's Party Resolution, adopted 16 December 1963, National Woman's Party Papers, 1913-1974, microfilm (Sanford, N.C.: Microfilming Corporation of America, 1977-1979), Reel 108. Original collection in the Library of Congress.

Introduction

    Prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, NWP leaders sometimes formed alliances of convenience with segregationist members of Congress who supported the ERA, at least nominally. This document reflects the racist and nativist arguments the NWP sometimes used to appeal to segregationists in Congress. NWP members' views on race were not uniform: the organization's papers contain statements both hostile and sympathetic to the civil rights movement.

NATIONAL WOMAN'S PARTY

144 CONSTITUTION AVENUE N. E., WASHINGTON 2, D. C.

TELEPHONE: LINCOLN 6-1210

Resolution adopted unanimously by the National Council
of the National Woman's Party
Dec. 16, 1963
Washington, D. C.
Regarding the proposed Civil Rights Bill (H.R. 7152)

Whereas the Civil Rights Bill (H.R. 7152) deals with the denial of Civil Rights on the grounds of "Race, Color, Religion, or National Origin, "and on no other grounds, — and does not concern itself in any way with the denial of Civil Rights to the countless women who are suffering from unemployment, from unequal pay, from unequal job opportunities, from unequal educational opportunities, and from many other handicaps and discriminations — solely on the ground of their sex; and,

Whereas the Civil Rights Bill would not even give protection against discrimination because of "race, color, religion, or national origin," to a White Woman, a Woman of the Christian Religion, or a Woman of United States Origin, according to the construction that appears to have been placed on the words: "Race, Color, Religion, or National Origin", in Orders and Statements by Government officials;

Be it Resolved, that the Congress of the United States be asked to amend the Civil Rights Bill (H.R. 7152) so as to make it serve the interests and welfare of all American citizens, without distinction as to sex, and,

Be it further Resolved that the Congress of the United States be asked to pass, without delay, the Equal Rights for Men and Women Amendment to the United States Constitution (S.J. Res. 45; H.J. Res. 55) which would write into the fundamental law of the land the principle of equality of rights under the law for all citizens without distinction as to sex, — and would thereby safe-guard American women from such inequities with regard to their Civil Rights as are now threatened in the pending Civil Rights Bill.