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.