Film and Discussion: What the Hell Is the Presidency For?

On Wednesday, Jan. 11, we partnered with The Contemporary Austin for an evening of film and conversation inspired by Jim Hodges's installation With Liberty and Justice for All (A Work in Progress). On the Moody Rooftop at the Jones Center, we screened the 2016 documentary What the Hell Is the Presidency For?: LBJ’s Battle for Civil Rights, which considers the legacies of Lyndon Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and how the important civil rights legislation of the 1960s still affects Americans today. Following the film, Mark K. Updegrove, director of the LBJ Presidential Library, offered thoughts on LBJ's presidency and social justice issues that continue to resonate today.