Lyndon Baines Johnson

People on the Left and the Right see only what they want to see in American history. It is inconvenient to acknowledge that there have always been two sides to the equation.
On the afternoon of January 1, 1863, President Lincoln, remarking that his hand was tired after a traditional round of hand clasping at a reception earlier that day, signed into law The Emancipation Proclamation, a major step, one among many, towards America’s often stated goal of equality for all. It was not our first step down that road. It was not our last. More steps like it will be needed.
Shamefully, some factions in the United States government fought to undermine the Proclamation for eighty more years, but America fought hard to uphold it: the 13th and 14th amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 and 1868, the Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, and the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, 1965, and 1968.
Pictured is Lyndon Johnson, who as House Majority Leader and President following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, shepherded through much of the civil rights legislation of the 1950’s and 60’s.
Legal segregation and discrimination has repeatedly been struck down, but discrimination still doggedly persists. The battle continues.
Every American has not been on the right side of this battle, but America itself has been and will continue to be.