At the same time, the Civil Rights Act was not a blanket statement of universal equality. Congress had prioritized the rights of free African Americans. In altering the bill’s language from inhabitants to citizens, Congress declined to outlaw discrimination against aliens—particularly the Chinese—or against Native Americans, most of whom the government did not consider citizens. Moreover, by clarifying that it was prohibiting discrimination based on “race and color” alone, Congress indicated that it was not condemning other kinds of inequality, particularly that of sex but also that of
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