Two Fulcrum Anniversaries —The Bomb and a Boon

 

The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima August 6, 1945.

Two incredibly significant anniversaries are being observed today.  They couldn’t be more different, but each event shaped and changed forever the world in which we live.  Eighty-one years ago on August 6, 1945 the Atomic Bomb was first used as a weapon of war, exploding with unprecedented devastation over Hiroshima, Japan and ushering in decades of fear known as the Nuclear Age.  Twenty years later President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ushering in an era of increased Black political participation and power particularly in the states of the old Confederacy.

Despite the anniversary, the defining world historical event of the 20th Century attention to Hiroshima seems, at least to me, to be more muted than during previous years.  Perhaps it has to do with the rapid fading of the World War II generation itself.  Perhaps because a generation or more has come of age since the demise of the old Soviet Union and with it the Sword of Damocles threat of global incineration that Baby Boomers like me grew up with.  Despite rising tensions with Russia under Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine few expect that not-so-veiled threats to seriously threaten the United States or its European allies with nukes.  China, the emerging polar power vs. the U.S. has not been unclearly aggressive. 

There have been periodic scares from the Third World—largely fantastic attempts to whip up hysteria over supposed suite case bombs in the hands of terrorists, the so called Islamic bomb in Pakistan which was preemptively squashed by India, periodic bluster and chest beating threats from North Korea, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s persistent attempts to drum up a war between the U.S. and Iran over as yet undeveloped possible nuclear arms.  With Donald Trump as his imbecilic dupe, he finally stirred up a war with the Islamic Republic.  You may have heard that is not going well.

Despite all this most Americans no longer live with the dread of the world coming to an end tomorrow.  

 

The Doomsday clock is set closer than ever to Midnight

We may be too nonchalant.   In 2023 the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists which keeps close track on such things re-set their famous Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to Midnight, the most alarming re-set ever which reflected North Korean efforts, the collapse of agreements by Iran to suspend weapon development, and the general instability of the world largely due to Donald Trump’s feckless policies, and population pressures from accelerating climate change.  The Clock has been re-set again to 85 seconds to Midnight.

The devastation in Hiroshima.

The U.S. Army Air Corps B-29 bomber Enola Gay piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets dropped a bomb on Hiroshima at 8:15 local time as residents were beginning their work and school days.  To do justice to the occasion today, I would have to dwell in detail on what it was like in the city that morning when “the face of the sun seemed to kiss the earth.”  And frankly I am not up to that ever-wrenching experience.  Call me a coward.  Instead, for just a taste of the horror and destruction I invite you to view Hiroshima: The Lost Photographs.

Voting rights demonstrations across the South, often brutally suppressed, like the first attempt of a march from Selma Alabama where young John Lewis had his skull fractured and the deaths of White civil rights workers pressured Lyndon Johnson to act and ultimately gave him the leverage to get an act through Congress.

The anniversary of the Voting Rights Act continues to generate more interest than usual because voting rights are under such relentless attack and because of the deaths of voting rights champions Congressman John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian.  Progressive forces are now rallying to preserve them and to recoup what has been lost since 2013 when the Supreme Court overturned a key provision to combat racial discrimination in voting.

Under Section 5 of the landmark civil rights law, jurisdictions with a history of discrimination needed to seek pre-approval of changes in voting rules that could affect minorities.  It blocked discrimination before it occurred. In Shelby County V. Holder the Court invalidated Section 4—which laid out criteria for identifying states and localities covered by Section 5—claiming that current conditions require a new coverage formula.  That left Section 5 intact but unenforceable.  The conservative majority on the Court claimed that Congress could easily adopt a new formula and restore enforcement, knowing full well that with the House of Representatives in the iron grip of reactionary Republican majorities that no remedy would be enacted.

Since then, attacks on voting rights have intensified across the country—and not just in the old Deep South.  Republican Legislatures and Governors have enacted waves of legislation aimed at curbing or discouraging voting by minorities and any groups of voters suspected of possible Democratic tendencies.  In the name of fighting a virtually nonexistent form of voter fraud—registration and voting by non-citizens misrepresenting their status—burdensome proof of identity legislation, including very limited numbers of approved identification documents and fees and charges for attaining those documents.  Places where applicants can obtain documents have been reduced requiring burdensome travel and their hours of operation restricted.  Students have been barred from registering where they attend college, even if they live there year around.  Early voting periods have been reduced and restricted.  Polling places have been eliminated and consolidated in minority areas to guarantee long and discouraging lines.  It seems like new and creative ways to curb registration or discourage voting are introduced every year, churned out as model legislation by some right wing think tank and spreading from red state to red state like a virus.

The Rev. William Barber in the red stole became a leading voice for the "Civil Rights Movement for our times" and demands to end the GOP rampage of voter suppression laws.  Seen here before his arrest with other faith leaders in Washington.

Many, maybe even most, of these restrictions eventually get struck down in the courts, but not before having their desired effect for an election cycle or two.  With Section 4 in place, many of these changes would have been stopped by Federal review before they were even put in place. 

Meanwhile there was a growing rank-and-file movement to reclaim voting rights in the same way as they were first won at bitter cost to begin with—with street protests and civil disobedience.  The NAACP’s Moral Monday movement in South Carolina was a model for a new activism and a movement that has been called the Selma of the 21st Century.

Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Among the witnesses are Senate Co-Sponsor and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. , Benjamin Hooks and Rosa Parks.

On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the landmark National Voting Rights Act of 1965 in a ceremony at the White House attended by leaders of both parties in Congress and Civil Rights leaders including the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Benjamin Hooks. 

My generation, which grew up protesting the War in Vietnam, grew to regard Johnson as “the enemy.”  Yet his record on domestic issues was unmatched by any President except Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  His Great Society programs, though far from perfect, were the last great systematic assault on poverty in our history.  And this Texas wheeler-dealer accomplished what Northern liberals like John F. Kennedy never could—a comprehensive legislative attack on discrimination and the subjugation of Black citizens. 

Perhaps we expected that subsequent Democratic Presidents would take up where Johnson left off without the stain of a fruitless war.  The fact is that whatever their intentions, none of them did.  The previous year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened doors of public accommodations in response to ongoing campaigns by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), branches of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), and others. 

But the historic pattern of restricting voting by Blacks through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, and outright intimidation that was the hallmark of the Jim Crow era after Southern Whites dismantled the reforms of post-Civil War Reconstruction, remained untouched.  With new militancy the SCLC and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) turned to campaigns to register voters. 

That campaign took a bloody, violent turn in Selma, Alabama earlier that year. Marchers attempting to reach the local Court House to register were attacked and many severely beaten. Black demonstrator, Jimmy Lee Johnson, was killed during a march in near-by Marion City.  Then James Reeb, a White Unitarian Universalist Minister who had responded to a call by Dr. King for support, was beaten to death shortly after arriving in the city. 

Johnson instinctively knew that the death of the White minister would galvanize public sentiment and support in the way no number of Black deaths could. A few days later a massive Selma to Montgomery March was turned back with violence at the Edmund Pettis Bridge—Bloody Sunday.   

On March 15, Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to call for the Voting Rights Act. It was introduced in the Senate on March 18 by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois.  

A second March to Montgomery, this time under the protection of Federal Authorities, got underway on March 21 and arrived at the Alabama capital for a massive rally on March 25 with the renewed purpose of supporting the Voting Rights Act.  After the rally a White Unitarian Universalist volunteer from Michigan, Viola Liuzzo, was shot and killed while driving a Black demonstrator back to Selma.  

The deaths of a white minister and a white woman volunteer during the Selma Campaign spurred Congress to action on the Voting Rights act in a way the vastly more numerous murders of Black activists like Jimmy Lee Jackson had ever done.  White privilege thus leveraged the landmark act.  At least the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) recognized the sacrifice of Jackson alongside UUs Rev. James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo in the memorial plaque that hangs in the Boston headquarters.

That only stepped up pressure on Congress, where despite a fierce last line of resistance by Southern Democrats, a filibuster was broken and the measure passed the upper chamber on May 26.   The vote was 77-19 with 47 Democrats in favor, 17 opposed and 30 Republicans—who still were proud to be the party of Lincoln—in favor and 2 opposed. 

Delaying tactics and attempts at gutting the measure by amendment slowed action in the House of Representatives but it passed with minor amendments on a vote of 333-85 when Congress reconvened from the Independence Day recess on July 9.  A Conference Committee reconciliation of the two versions cleared the House on August 3 and the Senate the next day. 

Johnson wasted no time including King and Rosa Parks to attend. 

 

Remembering Selma 1963 With The Selma Bridge Jubilee: All Boots on the Ground

They are calling this year’s commemoration The Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee--All Boots on the Ground which will mark the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday—the day on March 7, 1965, that day in Selma, Alabama when  massed Alabama State Police attacked peaceful demonstrators attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on a march from Selma to the state capital at Montgomery to protest suppression of voting rights.

Alabama State Police beat SNCC march leader John Lewis, on ground center, after charging voting rights marchers trying to cross Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma on the way to the state capitol in Montgomery in 1965.

Members of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had been conducting voter registration drives in the area since 1963 and had encountered escalating violence.  After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, efforts stepped up.  On July 6 of that year SNCC leader John Lewis attempted to lead a march on the county courthouse to register voters.  He and other marchers were beaten and arrested.  A few days later a local judge handed down a sweeping injunction against more than two people assembling to even talk about voter registration.  

Two SCLC organizers arrived to join the voter registration effort.  Diane Nash like John Lewis was a veteran of the Nashville public accommodation sit-in campaign of 1960.  Her husband, Rev. James Bevel was also a seasoned non-violent activist.  Together they were two of the best the organization had.

SNCC leaders appealed to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).  SCLC leaders including the Rev. James Bevel, who had been conducting his own voter registration projects, and his wife, Diane Nash, a SNCC founder who cut her teeth in the Nashville youth crusade sit-ins with Lewis, came to Selma to join the effort.  But the national organization, busy with other efforts, had not yet committed.

Finally, on January 2 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Selma bringing with him the national spotlight and officially launched a new Selma Voting Rights Movement.  Marches on court houses resumed there and in surrounding counties. 

The body of Jimmie Lee Jackson, first martyr of the Selma campaign.  After leading a night march to the Perry County Court House in Marion, Jackson was shot trying to protect his mother and grandfather from a beating by police who charged into a cafe where they had taken refuge.  His death galvanized the campaign locally but attracted little national press attention.

On February 18 a young man, a Baptist elder who had tried four times to register, Jimmie Lee Johnson was shot trying to defend his mother and grandfather from police clubs after a night march on the Perry County Courthouse in Marion.  When Johnson died of his wounds days later, Bevel called for a protest march on the state capital from Selma on March 7.  

On the day of the march John Lewis, the Rev. Hosea Williams of the SCLC, and local leaders like Amelia Boynton led about 600 marchers.  When they attempted to cross the bridge, they were met by massed troopers and ordered to disperse.  Lewis attempted to speak to the commanding officer but was shoved to the ground and beaten.  Police charged the crowd with clubs and gas.  Mounted officers attacked from the flanks.  Scenes of horrific violence were captured on film and soon broadcast on television helping to swing public sympathy to the marchers. 

King responded with a call to rally in Selma for a second march.  Hundreds from around the country, including many clergy, responded to the call.  Lawyers appealed to Federal Judge Frank Minis Johnson, who was suspected to be sympathetic, to lift the local ban on marches.  The judge took the issue under advisement but issued a temporary restraining order against resuming the march until he could make his ruling. 

With thousands gathered, King felt he had to move but did not want to alienate the judge.  On March 9 he led about 7,000 to the bridge but then knelt in prayer and turned the crowd back, a move that was harshly criticized by SNCC leaders. 

Rev. James Reeb, a young Unitarian Universalist minister, was with two others when he was beaten to death by Klansmen in Selma on the eve of a second march.  The death of a white minister did grab attention and President Lyndon Baines Johnson used it to advance the Voting Right Act of 1965.

That evening three Unitarian Universalist ministers, James Reeb, Clark Olsen, and Orloff Miller who responded to King’s call were attacked and beaten outside a Selma cafe known to be a hangout for Klansmen.  Reeb died of his wounds on March 11 in Birmingham after the Selma hospital refused to treat him. 

On hearing of Reeb’s death the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Association meeting in Boston voted to adjourn and re-convene in Selma.  UUA President Dana McLean Greeley and eventually half of the active ministers in the Association headed to the South.

The death of a white minister galvanized public opinion in a way that Jimmie Johnson’s had not.  A shaken President Lyndon Johnson submitted a Voting Rights Act to Congress on March 15 after failing to get Governor George Wallace to back off from attacks on demonstrators. 

A week after Reeb’s death Judge Johnson finally issued the long-anticipated ruling upholding the First Amendment rights to assemble and protest.  

John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, Juanita Abernathy, Ralph Bunche, Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, Frederick Reese and Hosea Williams lead the March through Montgomery to the Capitol.

On March 21 the final and successful march on Montgomery set off with King, Lewis, Bevel, and Williams leading the way with a bevy of national clergy. They were protected by 2,000 Federal troops and U. S. Marshalls on the four-day march through hostile territory to the capitol. 

After a triumphant rally on the capitol steps, Viola Liuzzo, a young Detroit mother and U.U. laywoman was driving a black marcher back to Selma, when she was shot by Ku Klux Klan members.  A federal informant was in the Klansmen’s car.  She was the final fatality in the Selma campaign.  

Tennessee born Viola Liuzzo, a white U.U. laywoman and mother from Detroit marched from Selma to Montgomery often barefoot as in this photo.  She was murdered driving a Black Marcher back to Selma after the final rally at the State Capital.  She was the third of four of the Martyrs of Selma who also included Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Myrick Daniels who was shotgunned to death on August 30 after spending a week in jail for a Lowndes County, demonstration, a part of the greater Selma campaign.

The Voting Rights Act passed Congress and was signed into law by the President on August 6.  Within a year 7000 new Black voters were enrolled in Selma’s Dallas County. 

In 1966 Sheriff Jim Clark, who was responsible for much of the early violence in Selma, lost his bid for re-election.  John Lewis went on to be elected to Congress.  The Edmund Pettus Bridge is now marked as part of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Trail, a National Historic Trail. 

The 50th Anniversary march included President Barack Obama and his family, Congressman John Lewis and other veterans of the original march and former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura.  Always outspoken, Diane Lewis boycotted the reunion march to protest Bush's inclusion. 

In the 50th Anniversary year of 2015, tens of thousands joined Congressman Lewis and other veterans of the original marches along with President Barack Obama, his family, and former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura in a symbolic and triumphant march across the Bridge.

The same year the film Selma directed by Ana DuVernay and starring David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, and Oprah Winfrey opened to high praise, great reviews, and a slew of awards and nominations.

Ana DuVernay's acclaimed film Selma was an accurate depiction of the voting rights campaign and marches.  Unlike earlier popular movies about the Civil Rights campaigns, there was no white savior and the vision was unfiltered by white eyes.  The film also honored the work and sacrifice of ordinary folk as well as Martin Luther King and other marquee movement names.  

In 2020 Congressman Lewis, who was battling pancreatic cancer was joined by four Democratic presidential candidates—Senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for the march.  In his comments Congressman Lewis said:

Fifty-five years ago, a few of our children attempted to march ... across this bridge. We were beaten, we were tear-gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and some way, God almighty helped me here…We must go out and vote like we never, ever voted before…

I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to give in. We’re going to continue to fight. We need your prayers now more than ever before.  We must use the vote as a nonviolent instrument or tool to redeem the soul of America…

To each and every one of you, especially you young people ... go out there, speak up, speak out. Get in the way. Get in good trouble. Necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.

Two August 6 Anniversaries —The Bomb and a Boon

    

The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima August 6, 1945.

Two incredibly significant anniversaries are being observed today.  They couldn’t be more different, but each event shaped and changed forever our world.  Eighty years ago on August 6, 1945 the Atomic Bomb was first used as a weapon of war, exploding with unprecedented devastation over Hiroshima, Japan and ushering in the decades of terror known as the Nuclear Age.  Twenty years later President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ushering in an era of increased Black political participation and power particularly in the states of the old Confederacy.

Despite the anniversary, the defining world historical event of the 20th Century attention to Hiroshima seems, at least to me, to be more muted than during previous years.  Perhaps it has to do with the rapid fading of the World War II generation itself.  Perhaps because a generation or more has come of age since the demise of the old Soviet Union and with it the Sword of Damocles threat of global incineration that Baby Boomers like me grew up with.  Despite rising tensions with Russia under Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine few expect that not-so-veiled threats to  seriously threaten the United States or its European allies with nukes.  China, the emerging polar power vs. the U.S. has not been unclearly aggressive. 

There have been periodic scares from the Third World—largely fantastic attempts to whip up hysteria over supposed suite case bombs in the hands of terrorists, the so called Islamic bomb in Pakistan which was preemptively squashed by India, periodic bluster and chest beating threats from North Korea, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s persistent attempts to drum up a war between the U.S. and Iran over as yet undeveloped possible nuclear arms.  But Americans no longer live with the dread of the world coming to an end tomorrow. 

 

We may be too nonchalant.   In 2023 the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists which keeps close track on such things re-set their famous Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to Midnight, the most alarming re-set ever which reflected North Korean efforts, the collapse of agreements by Iran to suspend weapon development, and the general instability of the world largely due to President Donald Trump’s feckless policies, and population pressures from accelerating climate change.  After the recent Israeli bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities with a wink and a nod from the White House may have destabilized tensions.

 

The devastation in Hiroshima. 

The U.S. Army Air Corps B-29 bomber Enola Gay piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets dropped a bomb on Hiroshima at 8:15 local time as residents were beginning their work and school days.  To do justice to the occasion today, I would have to dwell in detail on what it was like in the city that morning when “the face of the sun seemed to kiss the earth.”  And frankly I am not up to that ever wrenching experience.  Call me a coward.  Instead, for just a taste of the horror and destruction I invite you to view Hiroshima: The Lost Photographs.

 

Voting rights demonstrations across the South, often brutally suppressed, like the first attempt of a march from Selma Alabama where young John Lewis had his skull fractured and the deaths of White civil rights workers pressured Lyndon Johnson to act and ultimately gave him the leverage to get an act through Congress.

The anniversary of the Voting Rights Act continues to generate more interest than usual because voting rights are under such relentless attack and because of the deaths of voting rights champions Congressman John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian.  Progressive forces rallied to preserve those rights and to recoup what has been lost since 2013 when the Supreme Court overturned a key provision to combat racial discrimination in voting.

Under Section 5 of the landmark civil rights law, jurisdictions with a history of discrimination needed to seek pre-approval of changes in voting rules that could affect minorities.  It blocked discrimination before it occurred. In Shelby County v. Holder the Court invalidated Section 4—which laid out criteria for identifying  states and localities covered by Section 5—claiming that current conditions require a new coverage formula.  That left Section 5 intact but unenforceable.  The conservative majority on the Court claimed that Congress could easily adopt a new formula and restore enforcement, knowing full well that with the House of Representatives in the iron grip of reactionary Republican majorities that no remedy would be enacted.

Since then attacks on voting rights have intensified across the country—and not just in the old Deep South.  Republican Legislatures and Governors have enacted waves of legislation aimed at curbing or discouraging voting by minorities and any groups of voters suspected of possible Democratic tendencies.  In the name of fighting a virtually nonexistent form of voter fraud—registration and voting by non-citizens misrepresenting their status—burdensome proof of identity legislation, including very limited numbers of approved identification documents and fees and charges for attaining those document was enacted.  Places where applicants could obtain documents were reduced requiring burdensome travel and their hours of operation restricted.  Students were barred from registering where they attend college, even if they lived there year round.  Early voting periods were reduced and restricted.  Polling places were eliminated and consolidated in minority areas to guarantee long and discouraging lines.  It seems like new and creative ways to curb registration or discourage voting are introduced every year, churned out as model legislation by some right wing think tank and spreading from Red State to Red State like a virus.

Many, of these restrictions were struck down in Federal District and Appeals Courts, but not before  having their desired effect for an election cycle or two.  With Section 4 in place, many of these changes would have been stopped by Federal review before they were even put in place.  

 

 The Rev. William Barber in the red stole has been a leading voice for the "Civil Rights Movement for our times" and demands to end the GOP rampage of voter suppression laws.  Seen here before his arrest with other faith leaders in Washington.

Meanwhile there was a growing rank-and-file movement to reclaim voting rights in the same way as they were first won at bitter cost to begin with—with street protests and civil disobedience.  The NAACP’s Moral Monday movement in South Carolina was a model for a new activism and a movement that was called the Selma of the 21st Century.

Suppression has been stepped up under Trump Redux and a reliable and pliant majority on the High Court over turning or sending back many of the lower court decisions.

Republicans face possible loss of control of the House of Representatives due to the disastrous and unpopular policies of the Trump regime which have been devastating to many of his base.  Led by Texas Governor Greg Abbott Red states are attempting to stack the deck against a loss of a majority.  Republicans in firm control of the state legislature want to do a special mid-cycle Congressional district maps that will eliminate Democratic majorities in five districts, all of them minority (Lantix, Black, Asian, and Native) based in the state’s urban centers and along the Rio Grande valley.

 

Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker welcomed Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives who fled the state to block a quorum to pass radical mid-term Congressional reapportionment. 

This week Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives fled the state to deny a quorum for a vote that would send the re-districting bill to Abbott.  Refugee legislators traveled to Democratic strongholds who could retaliate by making their own mid-term adjustments.  Governors and legislative leaders welcomed them in California, New York and Illinois.  The first two states could easily draw maps that would  counter Texas.  Illinois already has Congressional Districts stacked so heavily against the Republicans that it probably can’t do much.  But Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who has defied the Trump administration before and has a history with Gov. Abbott over his shipments of plane and bus loads of immigrants and asylum seekers to Chicago.

Abbott wasted no time in striking back at the Democrats.  Warrants for civil arrest have been issued.  Fines of $500 a day for refusing to answer a quorum call will kick in and Abbott’s Attorney General threatens to file criminal bribery charges against the lawmakers and anyone who contributes funds to pay the fines.  The Texas Rangers have been charged with a broad criminal investigation that could also result in charges for any one who “abets the absence”—a clear signal that family members, staff, campaign volunteers could be in jeopardy.  

 

Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Among the witnesses are Senate Co-Sponsor and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. , Benjamin Hooks and Rosa Parks. 

On August 6, 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed the landmark National Voting Rights Act of 1965 in a ceremony at the White House attended by leaders of both parties in Congress and Civil Rights leaders including the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Benjamin Hooks. 

My generation, which grew up protesting the War in Vietnam, grew to regard Johnson as “the enemy.”  Yet his record on domestic issues was unmatched by any President except Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  His Great Society programs, though far from perfect, were the last great systematic assault on poverty in our history.  And this Texas wheeler-dealer accomplished what Northern liberals John F. Kennedy never could—a comprehensive legislative attack on discrimination and the subjugation of Black citizens. 

Perhaps we expected that subsequent Democratic Presidents would take up where Johnson left off without the stain of a fruitless war.  The fact is that whatever their intentions, none of them did.  The previous year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened doors of public accommodations in response to ongoing campaigns by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), branches of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), and others. 

But the historic pattern of restricting voting by Blacks through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, and outright intimidation that was the hallmark of the Jim Crow era after Southern Whites dismantled the reforms of post-Civil War Reconstruction, remained untouched.  With new militancy the SCLC and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) turned to campaigns to register voters. 

That campaign took a bloody, violent turn in Selma, Alabama earlier that year. Marchers attempting to reach the local Court House to register were attacked and many severely beaten. Black demonstrator, Jimmy Lee Johnson, was killed during a march in near-by Marion City.  Then James Reeb, a White Unitarian Universalist Minister who had responded to a call by Dr. King for support, was beaten to death shortly after arriving in the city. 

Johnson instinctively knew that the death of the White minister would galvanize public sentiment and support in the way no number of Black deaths could. A few days later a massive Selma to Montgomery march was turned back with violence at the Edmund Pettis Bridge—Bloody Sunday.   

On March 15, Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to call for the Voting Rights Act. It was introduced in the Senate on March 18 by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois.  

 

 The deaths of a white minister and a white woman volunteer during the Selma Campaign spurred Congress to action on the Voting Rights act in a way the vastly more numerous murders of Black activists like Jimmy Lee Jackson had ever done.  White privilege thus leveraged the landmark act.  At least the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) recognized the sacrifice of Jackson along side UUs Rev. James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo in the memorial plaque that hangs in the Boston headquarters.

A second March to Montgomery, this time under the protection of Federal Authorities, got underway on March 21 and arrived at the Alabama capital for a massive rally on March 25 with the renewed purpose of supporting the Voting Rights Act.  After the rally a white Unitarian Universalist volunteer from Michigan, Viola Liuzzo, was shot and killed while driving a Black demonstrator back to Selma. 

That only stepped up pressure on Congress, where despite a fierce last line of resistance by Southern Democrats, a filibuster was broken and the measure passed the upper chamber on May 26.   The vote was 77-19 with 47 Democrats in favor, 17 opposed and 30 Republicans—who still were proud to be the party of Lincoln—in favor and 2 opposed. 

Delaying tactics and attempts at gutting the measure by amendment slowed action in the House of Representatives but it passed with minor amendments on a vote of 333-85 when Congress reconvened from the Independence Day recess on July 9.  A Conference Committee reconciliation of the two versions cleared the House on August 3 and the Senate the next day. 

Johnson wasted no time scheduling a signing ceremony for August 6, just allowing enough time for major Civil Rights figures including King and Rosa Parks to attend.