Little Rock taught the movement’s leaders that it was necessary to confront segregation directly before the government would intervene. “Eisenhower had shown in Little Rock that the national government would intervene to uphold federal authority when it was directly threatened by state resistance” (Lawson and Payne, 26). In 1962, when riots broke out over James Meredith’s admittance to the University of Mississippi, federal troops were called out to restore order. In 1963, black students were admitted to the University of Alabama, an event that prompted President Kennedy to send troops to provide security. These events helped bring about the passage of landmark legislation. In 1965, President Johnson signed Affirmative Action into law, which brought integration to the workplace. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act prohibited minorities from being discriminated against in the housing market, which began the integration of neighborhoods.  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave African-Americans the right to vote. “By 1970s, southern states where Blacks could not have voted 10 years earlier were sending African-Americans to Congress” (Lawson and Payne, 125).

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