AUSTIN, Texas - The widely acclaimed movie “Selma” about the 1965 Civil Rights movement has disappointed at least one moviegoer: a leading historian of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The director of the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, which hosted a major civil rights summit last year that was headlined by four U.S. presidents, said the film incorrectly portrays Johnson as an obstructionist to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
LBJ Library Director Mark Updegrove said the film unfairly casts Johnson as a sort of composite character who represents the obstacles blacks faced in getting civil rights laws passed. What history shows, Updegrove said, is that Johnson and King had a partnership.
He said Johnson and King had disagreements but not like the film suggests. Updegrove called the portrayal unfortunate given the current climate following the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police.
“When racial tension is so high, it does no good to suggest that the president of the U.S. himself stood in the way of progress a half-century ago. It flies in the face of history,” Updegrove said.
Last April, Updegrove and the LBJ Library commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act with a summit that included appearances by four of the five living U.S. presidents. President Barack Obama closed out the event with a speech that lauded Johnson’s congressional deal-making and push for greater racial equality.
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