All The Way (Play about MLK, LBJ and Civil Rights)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uScE4ZH6mtk

This is a highlight reel from a recently successful Broadway play about MLK and LBJ. It tells the story of the fight for the civil rights act, and shows both MLK and LBJ in a complex, nuanced light. It portrays them sympathetically, but highlights their sexism, misogyny and promiscuity (it notes the prominent affairs of MLK, for example).

I thought about this play a lot during our conversation on MLK today, as it deals with themes of political change and the ways in which compromise often generates the progress that activists envision. On the other hand, it underscores the ideological disagreements and the political fractures that ruptured the civil rights movement. Many of the other civil rights leaders, for example, disagreed with the agreements between MLK and LBJ.

It also never fully engages in hero worship, as it highlights both of their remarkable flaws and accomplishments.

It also includes other civil rights leaders, such as Fannie Lou Hamer (my knowledge card!)

It's a really brilliant play starring Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad. He won a Tony for the role, and it was recently made into an HBO film!