The Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at The LBJ School of Public Affairs began its inaugural conference, entitled "Race, Democracy, and Public Policy in America: From LBJ's Great Society to the Age of Obama and #BlackLivesMatter" with a keynote speech by award-winning journalist and civil rights activist Charlayne Hunter Gault entitled "Dreams Realized, Dreams Deferred: Our Journey Towards a More Perfect Union" The two-day conference at the LBJ School brought together nationally recognized scholars, activists and students to analyze race, democracy and public policy from LBJ’s Great Society to the Age of Barack Obama and Black Lives Matter. The conference exemplifies the scholarly activities that will form the core of the mission of CSRD: seeking to lead a public conversation about the very meaning of racial, social and political justice; and being a source for expert scholarly and research opinions on race and democracy.