Massachusetts Civil Rights Act is adopted.

Originated by Charles Sumner, the bars segregation in hotels, inns, public places of amusement, public carriers, and public meetings. Theaters are added to the list in 1866, and after William Lewis is refused service in a Harvard Square barber shop, it is expanded to include all public places open for “hire, gain, or reward.” The first such state civil rights act in the U.S., it is struck down by the Supreme Court in 1883.