“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”-Frederick Douglas
Today is the first day of Black History month and Google has created a doodle of Frederick Douglas. His quote is very fitting as it summarizes the theme of the play All the Way by Robert Schenkkan. All the Way covers the 18 months of Lyndon B. Johnson’s campaign for re-election. Throughout the entire show, he constantly negotiated with all types of players in order to gain votes for re-election, despite events surrounding him.
Lyndon B. Johnson was the Vice-President during John F. Kennedy’s term and was forced to be President after Kennedy’s assassination. Unfortunately, President Johnson served a small space in my memory when I think about American history. I am not a native Texan and am very weak in our history (working on that), yet, it is interesting how much more I grew up knowing about John F. Kennedy, especially as his family had homes in my hometown.
Watching the movie Selma last year was my first glimpse of Johnson and his role with the Civil Rights Movement. It was not until the movie that I realized that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made several trips to the White House during LBJ’s tenure. Though Selma’s focus was the movement, the play All the Way focused more on Johnson’s re-election.
Despite campaigning from 1963, there were too many things going on in America that could not be ignored. From the country mourning Kennedy’s death to the violence embarked on African-Americans fighting for equality, there was not a dull moment from the day Johnson took office. All the Way did a phenomanal job capturing all of these events while shedding light on LBJ as an everyday human being.
During intermission, I asked an audience member who was a child during the LBJ era if she thought the show was depicting the sequence of events accurately. She recalled though she was young, it is an accurate depiction. She felt LBJ was known for “wheeling and dealing.”
All the way has forced me to dig a bit deeper into the time period of the eclipse of the Civil Rights Movement. It is very interesting how many of the topics are still being argued today, equity in human rights. Yet, many of the results boil down to the ability to vote. In our country, the right to vote is the most effective way to be heard. All the Way also reflected on the fact that though we vote as individuals, it takes a collective power to demand results for true change.
All the Way is a great show and it is clear why it was awarded the Tony award in 2014. It runs at the Alley Theater through February 21st.
Update: Discounted Tickets available for select shows http://bit.ly/1QGtz3q