Pen

Pen used to Sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964

This pen is one of the several pens used by President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964. President Johnson gave it to Dr. Dorothy Irene Height at the ceremony.

Archivists working with the NPS processing papers donated by Dr. Height to the National Archives for Black Women's History found the pen with a photocopy of newspaper clippings describing the ceremony and the gift of pens to attendees.

The Daily Diary of the President for that day shows that Dorothy Height was at the ceremony and stayed for a strategy meeting afterwards.