John F. Kennedy's Civil Rights Speech Remembered On 50th Anniversary (VIDEO)

JFK's Civil Rights Speech Transformed National Debate

On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy gave his Civil Rights Address, calling for the legislation that later became the Civil Rights Act Of 1964. The president's speech, broadcasted on both radio and television, addressed civil rights as a moral issue, highlighting the disadvantages faced by African Americans.

The speech was delivered on the heels of the first two African-American students beginning their attendance of the University of Alabama. Initially, Vivien Malone and James Hood were denied entry to the university by then Gov. George Wallace. The resistance eventually stopped when Kennedy deployed National Guard troops to protect the new students as they entered the university.

Watch Kennedy's speech above.

(h/t Alec Ross)

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John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

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