The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was initially interpreted to outlaw acts of discrimination related to real property by?

• A. Private individuals
• B. Banks
• C. Governmental entities
• D. Corporations

Answer: (C)

The question tests how the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was understood when it first entered enforceable effect: it was seen as preventing state action that denied Black citizens equal rights to own, buy, lease, or convey property. In the immediate postwar era, the emphasis was on stopping discriminatory government behavior—laws, officials, or state courts—that blocked property rights for Black people. That focus on government action is why the initial interpretation pointed to governmental entities as the ones barred from discriminating in real property matters.

Private actors—banks, corporations, or private individuals—weren’t the primary targets of this early reading. The act’s enforcement relied on federal authority to check state interference with property rights, whereas later civil rights developments and laws broadened protection to private discrimination.