One of the federal statutes adopted either after the Civil War (1861–1865) or in the 1950s and 1960s for the purpose of protecting and encouraging the exercise of the liberties and rights guaranteed by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, especially the exercise of voting rights and the prohibition of discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations on the basis of age, color, race, religion, or sex.