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Fifty years ago today, on July 2, 1964 -- one
month after I graduated from segregated C.A.

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Johnson High School in Columbia, SC -- one
of the last remaining legal barriers to equal

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opportunity in America was toppled when President
Lyndon Johnson signed into law the most sweeping

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civil rights legislation since the post-Civil
War Reconstruction Era.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
in such areas as voting, public restaurants,

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employment and education on the bases of such
characteristics as race, color, religion,

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national origin and gender.

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It was a pivotal moment in the nation's on-going
struggle to right the wrongs of the past and

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it ushered in an era of diversity and inclusion
that in the last half-century has literally

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transformed the face of America, and the face
of NASA.

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I ask that you join with me and the entire
NASA family in pausing today to reflect on

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the many changes that have taken place in
our country and in NASA since the passage

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of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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Before the passage of the Civil Rights Act,
which was originally proposed by President

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John F. Kennedy before his 1963 assassination,
some of us could not eat in the same restaurants

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or go to the same movie theaters as whites.

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Some of us were forced to go to separate and
unequal segregated schools.

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Some of us were denied the right to vote.

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Some of us could not even apply for the same
jobs as whites.

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Today, America is a very different place and
so is NASA.

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There is more opportunity...more diversity...and
more hope for the future because of the struggles

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and sacrifices of people like John F. Kennedy,
Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr.,

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Congressman John Lewis, Fannie Lew Hammer,
Rosa Parks and so many other foot soldiers

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of the Civil Rights movement.

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NASA was created as a Federal agency in 1958,
at a time when the struggle for civil rights

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and racial equality was intensifying.

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Much of the new agency was located in the
racially segregated south which brought us

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directly into the path of the civil rights
movement and although it took a while for

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NASA to fully open its doors to people of
all races, genders, and walks of life, we

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have made great strides over the years.

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Much of our progress is due to the hard work
and dedication of our Office of Diversity

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and Equal Opportunity at Headquarters and
the diversity champions and managers at each

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of our Centers.

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Today, African Americans and other minorities
are playing critical roles in everything we

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do -- as scientists and engineers, administrators
and managers, analysts, astronauts, educators,

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communicators and more.

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Like the rest of America, our greatest mission
-- to "build a more perfect Union" -- is not

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yet complete.

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As President Lyndon Baines Johnson reminded
us 50 years ago today, "This Civil Rights

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Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work
in our communities and our States, in our

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homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the
last vestiges of injustice in our beloved

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country."

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Thanks to every single on of you in our NASA-contractor
family for being good stewards of NASA's commitment