Texas: Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park

Quick Facts

Location:

Stonewall, Texas

Significance:

Home of President Lyndon B. Johnson

Designation:

National Historical Park

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is located in central Texas about 50 miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. The park protects the birthplace, home, ranch, and final resting place of Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States.

In November 1963 President Kennedy was assasinated in Dallas, Texas. This occurred as civil rights legislation began to take shape in Congress. President Lyndon Johnson addressed Congress five days after Kennedy's assassination, urging them to pass the bill. Johnson was famous for his tactics in getting legislation passed even as a member of Congress himself (he served in both the House and the Senate), before serving in the White House, and he used these skills to pressure Congress into passing what would eventualy become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Voting Rights Acts was a result of two things: 1. The elimination of the voting rights provision in the original Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 2. The Selma to Montgomery March in March 1965, which was a peaceful 54-mile march in an effort to register black voters in the South. The marchers were met with extreme violencefrom local authorites and white terrorists groups. Six days after the march, LBJ pledged his support for a Voting Rights Act.

Following Dr. King's assassination in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, President Johnson used the political climate at the time to push for more civil rights legislation. In a ltter to Congree, Johnson invoked Dr. King's assassination, imploring Congress to act in the name of a man "who devoted his life to nonviolent achievement of rights that most Americans take for granted..." On APril 10, 1968, the day after Dr. King's funeral, the House voted to pass the Civil RIghts Act of 1968 (commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act of 1968).

The Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park was chosen for inclusion in the African American Civil Rights Network in October 2019.

The African American Civil Rights Network (AACRN) recognizes the civil rights movement in the United States and the sacrifices made by those who fought against discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017, and coordinated by the National Park Service, the Network tells the stories of the people, places, and events of the modern U.S. civil rights movement from 1939 -1968 through a collection of public and private elements.