Race Relations Act 1965

The Race Relations Act 1965 is a United Kingdom statute, the country's first legislation addressing racial discrimination, which made it unlawful to refuse someone access to public places such as hotels, restaurants, cinemas and public transport on grounds of color, race, or ethnic or national origin. It also made incitement to racial hatred a criminal offense for the first time and established the Race Relations Board to investigate and try to resolve complaints of discrimination, though the Board had no power to initiate legal proceedings itself. The act's coverage was notably narrow, applying only to certain places of public resort and specifically excluding discrimination in employment and housing, two of the areas where discrimination against Black and South Asian immigrants to Britain was most commonly reported at the time. Those gaps were addressed by the broader Race Relations Act 1968, and both were eventually superseded by the Race Relations Act 1976.