Description
While it is possible that I could have been there, I was only vaguely aware of the importance of the occasion, but at least aware enough to have saved the front page of the Chicago Sun Times with its headline: “The President Speaks to America: ‘WE SHALL OVERCOME’.” As I learned more, I came to understand why this was a front-page-headline-moment. As I learned more about Lyndon Johnson, I also came to appreciate the personal and political hurdles Johnson overcame to reach this significant moment in the Civil Rights Movement. The study of history lets us appreciate a moment in the past that we could not fully appreciate when it was the present.
