Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 2015)
Page 10 July 29, 2015 Arts & ENTERTAINMENT Historical Civil Rights Victories Special marks 50th anniversary of Voting Rights Act For many, President Lyn- don B. Johnson is chiefly remembered for escalating the United States military in- volvement in Vietnam. But his legacy is much more than his role in the Vietnam War. In fact, Johnson engineered the passing of two of the most important laws Con- gress ever approved: the Civ- il Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Johnson’s signing of the Vot- ing Rights Act, PBS is pre- senting a special documenta- ry “JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness” airing nationally, Tuesday, Aug. from 9-10 p.m. The documentary exam- ines how Johnson meticu- lously worked behind the scenes to outwit the Southern segregationists who were de- termined to maintain the ra- cial divide. He cajoled, flat- tered, wheeled and dealed, using all the tricks he had learned as a long-serving senator, to ultimately trans- form America. Narrated by Morgan Free- man, the dramatic events are told through rare archival footage and reenactments with actor Mark Murphey as Johnson and Dené Hill as Geraldine Whittington, who Johnson hired, the first Af- rican American secretary to the President. photo courtesy LBJ P residential L ibrary President Lyndon Johnson and Geraldine Whittington, the first African American secretary to a United States President, in the Oval Office. After President Kennedy was assassinated and two days after his burial, Johnson delivered a speech that made known to America how he would ensure Kennedy’s leg- acy: “No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquent- ly honor President Kenne- dy’s memory than the ear- liest possible passage of the Civil Rights bill for which he fought so long,” he said. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is considered one of the crowning legislative achieve- ments of the civil rights movement, but the Voting Rights Act that followed the next year changed the coun- try forever. JFK & LBJ details how the Selma to Montgomery marches coupled with John- son’s historic, nationally tele- vised “We Shall Overcome” speech before a joint session of Congress on March 15, 1965, led to the passage of the Voting Rights bill protect- ing the rights of minorities. Among his other accom- plishments, Johnson sent a signal to America to end Jim Crow segregation by walking into The Forty Acres Club, a totally white club, with Whit- tington on his arm; appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Su- preme Court, the Court’s first African-American justice; instituted the programs of the Great Society (i.e., public broadcasting, Medicare, Med- icaid, environmental protec- tion, aid to education, the ab- olition of poverty) and more.
