Signing of the Elementary and Secondary Education Bill. [LBJ Library photo by Frank Wolfe #C148-30-WH65]

Education

"I hope that visitors who come here will achieve a closer understanding of the Presidency and that young people will get a clearer comprehension of what this nation tried to do in an eventful period of its history." —Lyndon Baines Johnson

Continuing President Johnson’s educational legacy, the LBJ Library education department provides activities, workshops, and presentations featuring resources from audio visual and document archives as well as from our museum collection.

Voting Rights Today Contest

The focus of this year's essay and documentary contest is "Voting Rights Today.” The Voting Rights Act was passed as a result of the widespread disenfranchisement of countless Americans who were denied the right to vote based on their race, gender, or class. This act enforced the right to vote nationwide guaranteed by the fifteenth and nineteenth amendments.

PRIZES:
$2,500 first place award, plus travel for the winner and his/her parent to attend the award ceremony in April 2015
$1,000 second place award
$1,000 award to first place student’s sponsoring teacher, plus travel to attend award ceremony

DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED! Monday, February 9, 2015

Click here to enter today

Group Activities

Students or adults can participate in one of our hands-on activities using archival files from the Johnson administration. Fight for your life in the role of a Soviet spy, become a member of the President’s National Security Council and advise the President on a matter of national security, or prioritize civil rights issues in order to work with the President as he drafts landmark legislation. 

Register for a classroom activity here.

"The Spy's Dilemma" is an interactive simulation that allows participants to read, interpret, and evaluate primary source documents, work collaboratively, and determine which ones would be most useful to you as a Russian spy.

In "A Presidential Decision," become part of the Johnson administration and advise the President on whether or not he should escalate the bombing in Vietnam during a meeting on July 20, 1965.

“A Matter of Civil Rights: A Decision to Construct Legislation for Congress” allows participants to assume one of eight roles while participating in a simulation exercise using primary documents from our archives.  

Workshops

Workshops are available for educators and feature primary sources from our document, photo, and museum archival holdings. Our workshops are created with teachers in mind to expand their curriculum and develop their own skills in research and primary source work. Workshops can be arranged at any point during the year on a weekday when the museum is open to the public, in addition to pre-scheduled workshops. The LBJ Library is certified by the Texas Education Agency as a provider of Continuing Education Credits (CEU) for Texas educators.

Contact an Education Specialist for more information.

National History Day

The LBJ Presidential Library and National Archives supports the year-long National History Day competition as a way for students to engage in historical thinking. National History day is a nationwide project-based contest for middle and high school students. The format allows students to pick a topic within a broad theme to analyze and conduct research.

With our extensive holdings, the LBJ Presidential Library provides primary sources, available in person and some online, to enhance students’ NHD research and projects.

For more information about how to start your research, click here. 
For more information about the regional, state, and national fairs, click here.

Group Visits

Our website offers many resources to help you prepare for a visit to the LBJ Library:

Quick Links


Contact LBJ Education Specialists

Amanda Melancon
Assistant Education Specialist
LBJ Presidential Library
2313 Red River Street
Austin TX 78705
Office: (512) 721-0172
Fax: (512) 721-0170
amanda@lbjlibrary.net


On This Day in History

  • On this day in 1965, President Johnson presented the Distinguished Service Medal to General Curtis LeMay, outgoing chief of Staff, U. S. Air Force, in ceremonies at the White House.

    ’Under General Curtis LeMay, America has built the mightiest air arm the world has ever known: the Strategic Air Command. Yet, the sole purpose of SAC has been to preserve the peace, and that purpose will never change.

    ’Today we are nearer the year 2000 than the year 1929. Over those years ahead weapons will change and strategies will change and challenges and dangers will change, but America’s need and freedom’s need will not change for the kind of dedicated, determined, demanding, and inspiring commander that is epitomized by Curtis LeMay. By his leadership and his imagination, this man of courage helped to shorten history’s costliest war in both Europe and the Pacific, and he helped to prevent mankind’s final war with both the response of the Berlin Airlift and the readiness of the Strategic Air Command.

    ’General LeMay, all free men today are in your debt, and all your countrymen join with me in proudly and gratefully saluting you. In your service you have raised our standards in the military—our standards of readiness, of performance, of proficiency, and of economy. You have helped America set a worldwide watch for freedom, and that vigil will never cease until liberty and justice are secure on this earth.

    ’I am very proud to confer upon you now, General LeMay, your fourth Distinguished Service Medal, and, on behalf of a grateful country, to wish you Godspeed and happy landings.’

  • On this day in 1966, President Johnson spoke on the telephone with U. S. Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota. In the conversation, LBJ teased McCarthy; he discussed McCarthy’s concerns about bombing in Vietnam and suggested that General Maxwell Taylor (Special Consultant to the President and Chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board) brief McCarthy about Vietnam; talked about Taylor’s past role in Vietnam policy; and spoke of the effect of congressional criticism of Vietnam policy on Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnam.

  • On this day in 1968, President Johnson spoke at the signing ceremony for the Economic Report.

    ’This report sees no halt. In the year ahead, if we are fiscally responsible and act accordingly, our gross national product will grow about $60 billion, 96 percent of our labor force will remain employed.


Explore

LBJ Museum | San Marcos

Presidential Timeline

Educational Resources

Photos