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President Johnson's Commencement Address At Howard University In 1965

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President Johnson’s Commencement Address at Howard University in 1965 was an important piece of history explaining the impact of civil rights bill of 1964 and the continuing pursuit of civil liberties through the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Moreover, his speech remains inspirational concerning how the government will uphold every US citizens equal rights and opportunities according to legislature passed during President Johnson’s tenure. When observing his commencement speech, President Johnson iterates the core principles of freedom our US citizens should receive. For instance, he said “Freedom is the right to share, share fully and equally, in American society to vote, to hold a job, to enter a public place, to go to school (Ball, Dagger, O’Neill, p. 145, 2020) This …show more content…

Overall, President Johnson is highly regarded as a key figure in implementing civil liberties, opportunities, and programs designed to hopefully bring the African American community out of generational poverty. Donald Allen would agree with President Johnson’s viewpoint on the importance of equal rights and fighting the wrongs of discrimination. Moreover, this agreed viewpoint is discussed when Allen illustrates the importance of our Bill of Rights through the statement “That is why a Bill of Rights was added to the U.S. Constitution and why the First Amendment comes first in that list of liberties”. (Ball, Dagger, O’Neill, p. 158, 2020) Both Allen and Johnson agree all US citizens regardless of race are endowed with the rights given in our Constitution. However, President Johnson was in favor of government expansion

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