I cannot get over this photo...talk about photo journalism!
This is so captivating and matches the headline so well. It really provides a great example of how photo journalism at its best can really capture the moment in time as we have discussed in class.
AUSTIN, Tex. — President Obama on Thursday paid tribute to the Civil Rights Act a half century after its passage transformed American society and ultimately paved the way for the day when the United States might have an African-American man serve in the Oval Office.
In a much-anticipated speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum marking the 50th anniversary of the landmark law, Mr. Obama said the push for equality and liberty had opened doors of opportunity for millions of Americans. “They swung open for you and they swung open for me,” he said. “That’s why I’m standing here today.”
Mr. Obama said champions of civil rights should not succumb to cynicism in a cynical age. “Yes, it’s true that despite laws like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and Medicare, our society is still racked with division and poverty,” he said. “Yes, race still colors our political debates and there have been government programs that have fallen short.”
But, he added, “I reject such cynicism because I have lived out the promise of L.B.J.'s efforts, because Michelle has lived out the legacy of those efforts, because my daughters have lived out the legacy of those efforts.”
Speaking at a conference commemorating the law signed in July 1964, Mr. Obama lavished praise on Johnson, a leader to whom disappointed liberals sometimes compare him unfavorably. “He was charming when he needed to be, ruthless when required,” Mr. Obama said. “He could wear you down with logic and argument, he could horse trade and he could flatter.”
He went on to say: “President Johnson liked power. He liked the feel of it, the wielding of it. But that hunger was harnessed and redeemed by a deeper understanding of the human condition, by a sympathy for the underdog, for the downtrodden, for the outcast. And it was a sympathy rooted in his own experience.”
Mr. Obama implicitly linked his own health care program to the legacy of Johnson’s creation of Medicare and Medicaid. Describing Johnson’s legislative accomplishments, Mr. Obama noted with a sly tone that the former president created “a health care law that opponents described as socialized medicine.”
Ruminating on the nature of a presidency that produced big change, even as his own now seems frustrated by partisan deadlock with Republicans in Congress, Mr. Obama seemed to find some solace in the idea that his time in office, too, would be redeemed one day.
“You’re reminded daily that in this great democracy you are but a relay swimmer in the currents of history bound by decisions made by those who came before, reliant on the efforts of those who will follow to fully vindicate your vision” he said. “But the presidency also affords a unique opportunity to bend those currents by shaping our laws and by shaping our debates, by working within the confines of the world as it is but also by reimagining the world as it should be..”
Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, toured the museum before his speech, accompanied by Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, the civil rights era icon. Mark K. Updegrove, the library director, showed the president copies of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment ending slavery, which was signed by Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act signed by Johnson.
Also in the exhibit were a stovetop hat worn by Lincoln and a Stetson cowboy hat worn by Johnson, as well as an annotated copy of Johnson’s speech to Congress urging passage of the Voting Rights Act.
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The president met with Johnson’s two daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Byrd Johnson Robb. Also on hand were veterans of the civil rights movement like Julian Bond, the former N.A.A.C.P. chairman; Maria Shriver, the niece of John F. Kennedy; and former Senator Charles S. Robb, Johnson’s son-in-law.
The auditorium felt a little like a time capsule. As the audience waited for the president, a loop of 1960s anthems featuring artists like Bob Dylan and songs like “Abraham, Martin and John” played. A black and white video with scratchy recordings of Johnson recalled the moment he signed the Civil Rights Act, and a photo montage recalled the famous, and infamous, moments of the era, then traced the progress of race relations all the way to Mr. Obama’s presidency. The crowd stood for the gospel singer Mavis Staples, who performed “We Shall Overcome.”
Mr. Obama was one of four presidents to address the conference over three days. Jimmy Carter spoke on Tuesday and Bill Clinton on Wednesday. George W. Bush was scheduled to speak on Thursday evening.
The event comes at a time when issues of rights and discrimination continue to shape the national debate. Mr. Obama has presided over a period of rapid change in the acceptance of gay and lesbian couples. When he took office, just two states permitted same-sex marriage; today there are 17 and the District of Columbia.
Among those who opposed same-sex marriage when Mr. Obama came in to office was Mr. Obama, but he switched sides in 2012. He also ended the “don’t ask, don’t tell” restrictions on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military and refused to defend the Defense of Marriage Act before the Supreme Court, which ultimately invalidated its central provision.
Though Mr. Obama often seemed reluctant to be drawn into discussions of race relations in his first term, he has seemed more open in talking about it since winning re-election. He made unusually passionate and personal comments after the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida and created an initiative called My Brother’s Keeper to help young black men. He has also been more vocal about issues like voting rights and equal pay for women.
Mr. Obama’s inauguration was supposed to usher in something of a post-racial era but has not quite done so. Many Democrats argue that the vociferous opposition to his policies is too often rooted in hidden racism, while some conservatives maintain that Mr. Obama’s supporters use race to shield him from criticism.
Faith in racial progress has remained relatively stable among Americans as a whole but has grown among African-Americans. In July 2008, just a month before Mr. Obama’s nomination for president, 76 percent of Americans said there had been real progress in race relations since the 1960s, according to polling by The New York Times and CBS News. Seventy-nine percent of whites agreed and 59 percent of blacks.
By last month, a CBS survey found that 79 percent of Americans felt that way, including 81 percent of whites and 68 percent of blacks. The nine-point increase among African-Americans was the sharpest rise in a comparable period of time since the 1990s.
Correction: April 10, 2014
An earlier version of this article misspelled the middle name of one of Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughters. She is Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, not Lynda Byrd Johnson Robb.
Nice...
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