Thursday, May 30th — Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson (1912-2007)

Johnson served as First Lady of the United States (1961-1969) as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson and had a front-row seat  to many of the major events of the 1960s. Lady Bird was an unlikely but surprisingly influential civil rights activist. Born and raised in the deep South, she understood the seismic changes that southerners felt as their lives were upturned by the politicians in distant Washington. She worked to soothe their anger and demonstration how the end of segregation and the Jim Crow laws would improve their region economically.

Dr. Leslie Goddard has a Ph.D. in History and Women’s Studies from Northwestern University. She is an independent historian, author, lecturer and a nationally recognized historical performer. She will portray Mrs. Johnson.