This year marks the 60^th anniversary of the legendary and era-defining Civil Rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama. In this small town in the American South – filled with white supremacist and segregationist sentiment – courageous demonstrators were advocating for the right of African American citizens to vote in free and fair elections.

As they crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge, they were brutally beaten by law enforcement. Nonetheless, their heroic stand eventually led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – one of the greatest domestic pieces of legislation the American government has ever passed.

Amidst the gripping story of the Selma protests, and what it led to, there are two figures that serve as powerful symbols: John Lewis, then just a 25 year old African American activist, and Lyndon Baines Johnson, a white man serving in the world’s most powerful position - President of the United States.

The trajectories of these two men, leading up to this moment in 1965, were significantly different. Despite their differences, they both made significant towards the advancement of racial justice in America, the issue at the heart of these demonstrations.

John Lewis was born in 1940 to the descendants of black slaves living in the segregated south. This background must have influenced his memorable speech in the march for Washington. In it, he ferociously and passionately communicating the urgency of advancing the freedom of black America, declaring ‘wake up America, wake up!’ and reshaping the American south ‘in the image of God and Democracy’.

Lewis also got involved protesting for civil rights, participating in the Freedom Rides as a 21-year-old. He and his companions were brutally beaten by a white mob, causing them. This served as a precursor for what would unfold in Selma, where, as the historian Jon Meacham said, ‘John Lewis’s life reached a kind of crescendo’. 

On March 7, 1965, on what came to be known as Bloody Sunday, police officers beat Lewis within and each. Here, John Lewis demonstrated a level of physical and moral courage most of us would struggle to replicate, such was his determination to break the stronghold of white supremacy and racial segregation in his community. No wonder Meacham argues Lewis ‘embodied the traits of a saint’!

Following the circulation of news covering what happened in Selma, President Lyndon B. Johnson realized the chance for him to act decisively – and, indeed, this served as a crescendo of sorts for his life too. It was his chance to stamp down one of the most beautiful Presidential legacies.

Like John Lewis, LBJ also grew up in humble circumstances; born into the Texas Hill Country in 1908, his family house had no electricity or indoor plumbing. Following a short teaching stint, he entered politics, and guided by a notorious craving for power, he rose to become the most powerful Senator in Washington D.C.

Chosen as John F. Kennedy’s Vice President, LBJ ascended to the presidency following JFK’s tragic assassination. He invoked Kennedy’s memory as leverage to garner support for the Civil Rights bill that Kennedy originally proposed, eventually signing it into law. As a piece of legislation that outlawed racial discrimination across public areas, it was America’s biggest advance in black equality for almost an entire century.

Nonetheless, President Johnson was gunning for more – he wanted to pass the Voting Rights Act. After the heroic stand of John Lewis and his fellow demonstrators at Selma, LBJ gave an address to Congress, eloquently advocating for this bill that would secure African Americans’ right to vote. In one of the greatest Presidential speeches of the 20^th century, he repeated one of the Civil Rights Movement’s most evocative phrases ‘we shall overcome’ in solidarity with them. Later in the year, he signed this bill into law. This essentially marked the first time the United States became a genuinely multi-racial democracy.

Thus, we see how two very different individuals contributed towards advancing American racial justice. John Lewis, a black man, was the young saintly protestor, while Lyndon Johnson, a white man, was the power-hungry politician hailing from a segregationist state. With Selma and the Voting Rights Act, their legacies intersected in a powerful way. It shows us that different kinds of individuals – with different backgrounds and personalities – have the ability, and ultimately the duty, to combat injustice and fight for human dignity.

References

“Lyndon B. Johnson: Life Before the Presidency”. Miller Center.  Retrieved from https://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/life-before-the-presidency

Meacham, John. His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope. Random House, New York: NY, 2020.

Meacham, John. The Soul of America: The Battle for our Better Angels. Random House, New York: NY, 2018.