Today In Black History...

On this date in 1866 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. This was the first such act known as a Civil Rights Act. The act declared that "all persons born in the United States not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed," were citizens of the United States. Such citizens were "of every race and color" and "without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude.