Civil Rights Summit

This is my final semester of undergrad before I head to Seattle and the University of Washington. I’ve been accepted into the iSchool, and I’m extremely grateful and excited about the move. So to help decide if I want to pursue a future in a traditional library setting or if I want to do archival work, I’m interning at the LBJ Presidential Library. It has been, hands down, the coolest internship I could have found.

President Lincoln's and LBJ's hats with the Emancipation Proclamation.

This year marked the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of ’64 and the Library hosted the Civil Rights Summit. I was told that more than likely I wouldn’t be able to attend the summit, and I was understandably disappointed. So I did my work and hoped against hope that I would be one of the first people to get a ticket when they went up on the website. Three minutes of being on stand-by and all the tickets were gone. A few days before the summit, the digital archivist I work with told me her husband wouldn’t be able to see Obama with her and asked if I wanted to be her plus one. Of course I said yes!

I was working the first day of the summit and Liza, the same archivist who asked if I wanted to see Obama, turned to me and gave me a ticket to the daytime panels. Of course I said yes and went to see the panel Gay Marriage: A Civil Rights Issue. The second panel was on immigration reform. So, the summit started off strong.

I went back upstairs because there was still plenty of work to do. Liza was trying to get a ticket to see Jimmy Carter that was on hold for a UT student and there was a mix-up. What did she do with the extra ticket? She sent me back down to see President Carter speak.

I wasn’t too familiar with Carter’s work, but he left quite an impression. His current work addresses the war on women and he spoke on everything from unequal pay to sexual slavery. I was so moved by his words that I bought his book. He’s a wonderful, kind man. And, it was a privilege to be in the auditorium to witness his interview the Mark Updegrove.

I had school on Wednesday so I couldn’t go to the panels or see Bill Clinton, but I was there bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for President Obama’s visit the next morning. Another archivist asked if I was going to the other daytime panels, and I told her that I didn’t have a ticket for it. She handed me hers, saying that she had to drive her husband to work and couldn't make the panels. Another break for Vicky. Staff was thoughtfully ushered to the front of the line and we were able to get the seats behind the VIPs.

I was in the 11^th row.

First Lady Michelle Obama and civil rights leader John Lewis.

Meeting Wendy Davis.

I seriously sat stunned by the experience that I missed what the President was actually saying for the first couple of minutes. He quoted both Martin Luther King, Jr. and LBJ and stressed that without the work done by those two men and all the individuals involved with the civil rights movement, he wouldn’t be where he was and we as a nation wouldn’t be where we are. The Civil Rights Act opened doors for us all.