In January 1964 , President Lyndon Johnson met with civil rights leaders . On January 8 , during his first State of the Union address , Johnson asked Congress to " let this session of Congress be known as the session which did more for civil rights than the last hundred sessions combined . " On June 21 , civil rights workers Michael Schwerner , Andrew Goodman , and James Chaney disappeared in Neshoba County , Mississippi , where they were volunteering in the registration of African-American voters as part of the Mississippi Summer Project . The disappearance of the three activists captured national attention and the ensuing outrage was used by Johnson and civil rights activists to build a coalition of northern and western Democrats and Republicans and push Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964
disappeared
Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner
Jim Crow laws