Video: 'President Lyndon Johnson Address Voting Rights, Mar 15 1965'

(Monday, March 15, 1965, 9:02 p.m. EST; during the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)) — In a powerful address to a joint session of Congress, President Lyndon B. Johnson tonight called for new legislation to guarantee the right to vote for all Americans, following the violence in Selma, Alabama.

“We shall overcome,” Johnson declared, echoing the words of civil rights leaders and the growing movement for racial equality.

His speech came in response to the brutality faced by peaceful protesters in Selma, where law enforcement had used force to prevent them from marching for voting rights.

Video: 'PBS LBJ Part 2' (Mar. 15, 1965, at 26:18)

Johnson’s address ” target=”_blank”>emphasized the need for urgent action to protect voting rights, particularly for African Americans in the South, who had been systematically disenfranchised through tactics such as literacy tests and poll taxes.

The president’s call to Congress set the stage for what would become the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. The act, signed into law later that year, outlawed discriminatory voting practices and paved the way for greater political participation among African Americans.

Johnson’s leadership in the passage of the Voting Rights Act remains a cornerstone of his legacy in the fight for civil rights.