
Throughout history there have been key events that spark the need to stand out and to create change. Often moments in the middle of historical events are overlooked and seen as irrelevant. However, often enough, these moments are vital to make this change happen. More specifically, during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, there were crucial actions that led to the goal of equal civil rights, treatments, and opportunities. President Lyndon B Johnson’s speech, “The American Promise,” sparked the initiative to finalize a congressional act that would eliminate the impact of Jim Crow Laws and governmental discrimination on African Americans in the United States. 

The Civil Rights Movement began in 1954 and lasted fourteen years. This movement was an outcry for reform on the way African Americans were treated in The United States, which became a movement that swept across the nation, primarily in the south. This is exemplified in The Reader’s Companion to American History, stating “The modern period of civil rights reform can be divided into several phases, each beginning with isolated, small-scale protests and ultimately resulting in the emergence of new, more militant movements, leaders, and organizations” (History). These small yet critical events include The Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, Bloody Sunday, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. From these moments arose more actions that advanced the Civil Rights Movement, which launched words in to actions and surrenders in to victories.  

Bloody Sunday was a huge turning point in the movement because it led to the support of some government executives and the debut of a new government act. On March 7, 1965 several hundred protesters took to the streets and planned to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The marchers ran in to trouble with law enforcement on the Edmund Pettus Bridge because waiting for them were state troopers and local officers who demanded they turn around. When the marchers refused, the police used tear gas on the crowd and then began to violently beat them. Weisenburger recounts that “…his troopers charged, methodically ramming billy clubs into each marcher's solar plexus. Some of the women began to shriek, then the lead marchers all scattered as tear gas grenades popped and gas-masked troopers singled out fallen marchers who stumbled over the highway median” (Weisenburger). All of the mayhem was recorded and televised that night, and Americans across the country witnessed what had happened in Alabama. Now, not only did the government have southern protesters on their hands, they had unhappy people across America demanding what the Selma marchers had wanted, voting reform. This new media outlet created sympathy all across American homes and influenced the government opinion, as a nationwide outcry put pressure on the government for change.

Thus, unable to deny what was going on within the United States borders, Lyndon B. Johnson decided to take a stance on the Selma to Montgomery marchers and what they were working towards. Johnson made it his responsibility to reform the voting rights of African American citizens. In order to do so, he went in front of Congress and addressed all of the issues occurring during that time and the urgency to pass the Voting Rights Act. 

In his speech, “The American Promise,” Johnson argues that the barriers dividing the nation need to be broken, such as between blacks and whites, between Republicans and Democrats, and between the north and the south. The nation as a whole needed to be unified if people ever wanted to advance forward. He addresses that even though the Emancipation Proclamation has been passed, African Americans are not free, nor have they ever been. He states, “I know how difficult it is to reshape the attitudes and the structure of our society. But a century has passed- more than 100 years- since the Negro was freed. And he is not fully free tonight” (Johnson). This was an effort to bring about the right to vote for blacks, who had been disenfranchised since their arrival to the US. Although the Fifteenth Amendment allows all men to vote, literacy tests, poll taxes, and threats prevented a majority of African Americans from voting. Thus, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was created to end this discrimination.

As a result of Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed in early August, just five months later. This legislation was a large step towards improving the culture of the United States. As for the Civil Rights Movement, this signified that an end was near for the protestors, and that they had finally reached their goal. In later election years, African American voter turnouts increased more and more each election. Specifically, “black voter registration rates among VRA-covered states rose from 27.9% before the VRA to 54.7% after it passed (Rosenberg 2008)” (Joseph). No matter the party affiliation, there was a record breaking amount of voters in the elections following 1965. The aftermath of Johnson’s speech positively impacted African Americans of that generation and continues for generations to come. 

Currently, a similar Civil Rights Movement is occurring, known as the Black Lives Matter movement. The increase of followers of this movement has resulted from the highly publicized police shootings of African American citizens in the United States over the past two years. Today, more and more often we see on the news that there has been another violent shooting or an attack that targets African Americans. The Black Lives Matter movement is en-route to ending this chaos. However, this movement is beginning to receive a bad reputation and is being linked with violent riots and protests. Almost as often as the shootings, there are stories of cities being torn apart by forceful civilians. However, these violent protestors should not be associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. They do not care about the unification to stand against racism and criticism; they do not care about the new fear that is spreading across the nation that “their city may be next”; they do not care about the setbacks they are causing in this movements progress. However, the Black Lives Matter movement, at its core, is to take all forces and unite them in to one in order to make an important change in treatments of African Americans. 

President Lyndon B Johnson’s speech, “The American Promise,” sparked the initiative to finalize a congressional act that would eliminate the impact of Jim Crow Laws and governmental discrimination on African Americans in the United States. Even in the 21st century, the speech given by Lyndon B. Johnson and the ripple effect it created is still apparent in America and our society today, and will continue to represent the call for action that surround all civil rights movements. 
