49 years ago today, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. A year earlier Sam Cooke released this song: “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Our ideas can save democracy... But we need your help! Donate Now!

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York Magazine; a longtime contributor to the Washington Monthly; and a former policy adviser to three governors and a U.S. senator from his home state of Georgia.