6 . 9 . 21 One hundred and sixty years ago, this country was fumbling into dissolution and civil war. Sixty years ago, it was fumbling with how to mark the war's Centennial. In 1961, the Confederate gray was still deemed honorable among the majority of white Southerners. By the time the Centennial came to a close four years later, the civil rights movement had swung into high gear, culminating that August with passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed racial discrimination at the ballot box and was signed into law by a Southern president. These events, plus some surprise ones—like riots in northern cities—coincided with the Civil War Centennial.