How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)
Quote #4
So, will you join in the battle to give every citizen the full equality which God enjoins and the law requires, whatever his belief, or race, or the color of his skin? (85)
Equality is the law of the land. It says so in the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, and that amendment was ratified in 1868. Now it's 1964 and way past time to make equality a reality. Five weeks after the speech, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The following August, the Voting Rights Act became law.
Quote #5
Will you join in the battle to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty? (86)
Johnson's War on Poverty became the centerpiece of his Great Society. About 34 million Americans lived in poverty in 1964. Officially, that meant they had incomes of $3,000 a year or less at a time when the median American income was $6,600. (Today, those numbers are more like 47 million, $24,000, and $54,000.) How's that war going?