Bullock Museum to showcase one-woman show about Lady Bird Johnson's historic tour through the South

FEBRUARY 24, 2020 (AUSTIN, TX) — The Bullock Texas State History Museum is set to premiere a series of live performances featuring author and award-winning performer Sheila Gordon this Saturday, February 29 at 2 pm in the Texas Spirit Theater. In "Liz and LadyBird: Whistlestop 1964!" Gordon portrays 37 characters to tell the story of Lady Bird Johnson's 1964 whistle stop campaign tour through the South.

In October of 1964, the Deep South was fiercely set against re-electing President Lyndon Johnson, due to the passage of the Civil Rights Act. To sell his War on Poverty and Civil Rights agendas, he enlisted his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, to travel through 1,692 miles of southern towns. For the first time in United States history, a first lady would take to the campaign trail unaccompanied by her husband. 

"Liz and LadyBird: Whistlestop 1964!," written and performed by Gordon and directed by Rebecca Whitehurst, centers around the character of native Texan Liz Carpenter, who narrates the story in her signature entertaining fashion. Throughout the performance, Gordon takes the audience aboard a campaign train that helped to shape the future of women in American politics.

The performances will be held on select Saturdays throughout the run of the Bullock Museum's This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement exhibition, featuring more than 150 powerful photos that capture the struggle for equality in the 1960s. "Liz and LadyBird: Whistlestop 1964!" is free with museum exhibition admission, and guests are encouraged to RSVP for the performance online.

"Liz and LadyBird: Whistlestop 1964!" performances will take place at 2 pm in the Bullock Museum's Texas Spirit Theater on February 29, April 4, and May 2. For more information or to RSVP, visit TheStoryofTexas.com.

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This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement is presented by the Center for Documentary Expression and Art and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Major support for the exhibition has been provided by the Bruce W. Bastian Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, with use of the Bob Fitch photographs courtesy of the Department of Collections, Stanford University Libraries.

Sponsored locally by The Albert and Ethel Herzstein Hall Fund.

Special exhibitions are generously locally supported by Union Pacific.

About Sheila Gordon
Sheila Gordon is an award-winning solo performer, professional actor, professor, and dialect coach.  She has performed her original works at the Edinburgh Fringe, L.A Fringe and Austin Frontera Festivals. Gordon’s mercurial vocal and physical approach to characters allows her to transform from character to character with fluidity and ease. 

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​​The Bullock Texas State History Museum, a division of the State Preservation Board and an accredited institution of the American Alliance of Museums, creates experiences that educate, engage, and encourage a deeper understanding of Texas. With dynamic, award-winning exhibitions that illuminate Texas history, people, and culture, educational programming for all ages, and an IMAX® theater with a screen the size of Texas, the Museum collaborates with more than 700 museums, libraries, archives, organizations, and individuals across the world to bring the Story of Texas to life. For more information, visit www.TheStoryofTexas.com or call (866)369-7108.

The Bullock Texas State History Museum is a division of the Texas State Preservation Board. Additional support for educational programming provided by the Texas State History Museum Foundation.