THE HISTORY OF THE FILIBUSTER AS ‘JIM CROW RELIC’. Historians told PolitiFact that the filibuster did not emerge from debates over slavery or segregation. However, they agreed that the parliamentary tactic was closely affiliated with opposition to civil rights for more than a century. “The histories of the filibuster, civil and voting rights, and race in America are intertwined,” said Steven S. Smith, a political scientist and Senate specialist at Washington University in St. Louis.