Lyndon B Johnson Impact On The Civil Rights Movement

Although African Americans were freed from slavery in 1863, they were not treated as so a century later. Throughout the 1960s there was racial injustice, especially within the southern states. It was also an important decade for the Civil Rights Movement, which was strongly supported by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination in 1963. After former Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson took office, he continued to fight for the equality of African American citizens. After analyzing Johnson’s speech on voting rights for African Americans and reading more about the Freedom March in Selma, Alabama it is clear that President Johnson made a profound impact on the Civil Rights Movement. Lyndon B. Johnson also sprang into action after watching

In March of 1965, during the Freedom March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, protestors were attacked by white law enforcement with batons and tear gas, and one man was killed. A week later, President Johnson gave a speech addressing Congress. He began his address by condemning what happened in Selma, Alabama. A short five months later, on August 6, 1965, Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices that were practiced in many southern states after the Civil

It further supports the idea that although Black Americans were “free,” they were still not equal. It also helps to understand the lengths they had to go to just to exercise their basic rights, such as vote or visit a public establishment. Articles and documents such as these are a great reminder that African Americans had to fight through abuse, threats, jail sentences, and much more a long way into the twentieth century. These documents provide the perspective of an African American woman in the 1960s and the perspective of the President, Lyndon B. Johnson, on fighting for equal rights for all African American citizens. Each of the speeches made a monumental impact on the Civil Rights Movement. These are the types of speeches that made those in political positions pay attention to the discrimination and abuse that all Black Americans faced every day. The efforts of African Americans and President Johnson very positively impacted the Civil Rights Movement and the rights of black southerners during the