Event to celebrate 50th anniversary of Ky. Civil Rights Act

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s human rights commission is planning a law symposium to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the state’s Civil Rights Act.

The one-day symposium is set for Jan. 27 next year at the University of Kentucky College of Law.

The commission says the event will feature a series of panels and speakers, including legislators, judges, activists and attorneys. The keynote speaker will be Patricia Timmons-Goodson, co-chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

On Jan. 27, 1966, then-Gov. Edward T. Breathitt signed into law the Kentucky Civil Rights Act. The commission says the law made Kentucky the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to have an enforceable civil rights act.

It prohibited discrimination in employment and public accommodations, based on race, color, religion or national origin.