LBJ's Voting Rights Speech ('We Shall Overcome')

Lyndon B. Johnson, Voting Rights Address (March 15, 1965)

These are adaptations, not the original. The original wording is always shown first. Each adapted version restates the same passage at about a grade 4, grade 7, or grade 10 reading level without adding or removing ideas. Quote the original in student writing.

Original wording

“I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.”

Adapted · about grade 4

Tonight I speak for the worth of every person and for the future of democracy.

Adapted · about grade 7

Tonight I speak for human dignity and for the future of democracy.

Adapted · about grade 10

I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.

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Used in: Nonviolence or Black Power: which approach did more to advance civil rights?