I wonder if Obama mentioned anyof the info in this article in his speech - or if he ever will!
Who’s Really Responsible for the Civil Rights Act? | TheBlaze.com

I was enlightened by these two paragraphs:
"The Voting Rights Act of 1965, passed along similar partisan margins, with 61 Democratic “no” votes in the House and 24 Republicans voting against the bill, which passed 333-85. In the Senate, the measure passed with the support of 94 percent of the Republican caucus and 73 percent of the Democratic caucus.

“'The degree of Republican support for the two bills actually exceeded the degree of Democratic support, and it’s also fair to say that Republicans took leading roles in both measures, even though they had far fewer seats, and thus less power, at the time,” PolitiFact said in a 2010 analysis of the GOP role in civil rights.'"