Lyndon B. Johnson's "We Shall Overcome" speech?

Question

I don't understand it--why did he write it and what came out of it? Good things or bad things or maybe even both? All answers are helpful!

Answer 1

Every word that June F has posted is true but it gives no insight.

In 1957, then President Eisenhower had charged Congress with putting forth a Civil Rights Bill.  Two Senators (JFK and LBJ) fought to stop its passage and when they realized they could not, they reworded the bill sufficiently enough to render it ineffective.  Both were called upon the carpet for having challenged the President on this one.  In 1964, the Republican lead Congress again sent another Civil Rights Bill to the president.  And again, as it made its way up the chain, the Democrats tried stopping it.  This time, they filibustered.

I strongly suspect that now sitting as President of "these" "United" States, he was finally seeing the light.  The blood was on his hands and those of his fellow Democrats.  He could no longer represent only a given few, but now had to represent EVERYONE.  He knew too, that as president, that ultimately he was responsible for what happens to the people in his country regardless of race.  I think the gravity of the situation and seeing it on the evening news, virtually unedited must have REALLY struck home with him.  The whole world was watching.  

Answer 2

In this very eloquent speech to the full Congress, President Lyndon B. Johnson used the phrase "we shall overcome," borrowed from African-American leaders struggling for equal rights.

The speech was made on March 15, 1965, a week after deadly racial violence erupted in Selma, Alabama, as African-Americans were attacked by police while preparing to march to Montgomery to protest voting rights discrimination.

Discrimination took the form of literacy, knowledge or character tests administered solely to African-Americans to keep them from registering to vote.

Civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King and over 500 supporters planned to march from Selma to Montgomery to register African-Americans to vote. The police violence that erupted resulted in the death of a King supporter, a white Unitarian Minister from Boston named James J. Reeb.

A second attempt to march to Montgomery was also blocked by police. It took Federal intervention with the 'federalizing' of the Alabama national guard and the addition of over 2000 other guards to ensure protection and allow the march to begin.

On March 21, 1965 the march to Montgomery finally began with over 3000 participants, under the glare of worldwide news publicity.

A copy of the speech is here: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/joh...

On August 6, 1965 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act ending the practice of administering literacy, knowledge or other tests which had been used to keep African-Americans from registering to vote.

Racial unrest in the nation continued, however, as a major riot broke out in the Watts section of Los Angeles on August 11, 1965, resulting in the deaths of 34 persons and $40 million in damages.