Civil Rights Movement

Rising sun pushing its way through this morning's heavy fog.
I saw The Butler yesterday.  It's dedicated to those who were part of the civil rights movement and covers it from Eisenhower's administration to Obama's, focusing on the experience of a man who was a butler in the White House.  The man who inspired the story was really a butler from Truman's administration to Reagan's.  The highly fictionalized movie contrasts the butler's quiet servant role with his son's role as a non-violent protester.
It's a wonderful way to do a quick and entertaining review of the progress of civil rights for blacks.  The movie begins in the time when a white man in the south could kill a black man and nobody thought anything of it.  The butler's life began as a child picking cotton and then as a boy learning to serve in the plantation house.  When he finally gets to the White House he finds that it's not much different.  I was struck by the fact that, while presidents were making legal changes that improved the life of black citizens, they remained almost unaware of the black men and women working as servants in their own house.  Forest Whitaker is perfect as the butler.  Oprah Winfrey and David Oyelowo (an actor I didn't know) are really fine as his wife and son.  A lot of excellent actors perform bit parts.
As I look forward to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, this movie jogged a lot of intense, moving, memories and helped me to think of how far we have to go before blacks, and other minorities in our country, are treated as true equals with the majority.