Strom Thurmond filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957

On August 28, 1957, Strom Thurmond, a DemocraticUnited States senator from South Carolina, began a filibuster intended to prevent the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The filibuster—an extended speech designed to stall legislation—began at 8:54p.m. and lasted until 9:12p.m. the following day, a duration of 24 hours and 18 minutes. This makes the filibuster the longest single-person filibuster in United States Senate history as of 2026. It was also the longest single-person Senate speech until 2025, when the record was broken by Cory Booker of New Jersey, with Booker speaking for 25 hours and 5 minutes.

Thurmond's filibuster focused primarily on asserting that the bill in question, which provided for expanded federal protection of African American voting rights, was both unnecessary and unconstitutional, and Thurmond recited from documents including the election laws of each U.S. state, Supreme Court decisions, and George Washington's Farewell Address. Thurmond focused on a particular provision in the bill that dealt with certain court cases, but opposed the entirety of the bill. The bill passed two hours after the filibuster and was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower within two weeks.

Thurmond, an ardent segregationist, had served in the Senate for only three years before the speech, but was politically well-known even before his election to the body. Although the filibuster was supported by many South Carolinians and citizens of other Southern states, Thurmond's decision to filibuster the bill went against a previous agreement among Southern senators. As a result, Thurmond received mixed praise and criticism for his speech. Thurmond's filibuster was intended to delay access to voting for Black Americans.