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March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

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File:March on Washington edit.jpg
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a rally held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on 28 August 1963. It was where Martin Luther King, Jr gave his famous I Have a Dream speech. After the march, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the National Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed. There were over 200,000 people there, both black and white.[1]

Organization and planning

The march was first planned by A. Philip Randolph, who was the president of the Negro American Labor Council, and vice president of the AFL-CIO. He had planned another civil rights march in 1941, but it never happened. However, the threat of the march was a big reason why President Roosevelt wrote Executive Order 8802. This forced equal opportunity in the defense industry, which meant that all workers had to be treated the same, no matter what their race was.

Other leaders of civil rights movement helped Randolph plan the march and spread the word to their members. Some of the most important were James Farmer, (president of the Congress of Racial Equality), John Lewis (president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee),[2] Martin Luther King, Jr. (president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference),[2] Roy Wilkins (president of the NAACP),[2] and Whitney Young (president of the National Urban League)..

Protection

Many people were worried for the marchers' safety. Black nationalist leader Malcolm X sent an open telegram to George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the Nazi Party in the United States. Malcolm wrote:

“ If your present racist agitation against our people there in Alabama causes physical harm to Reverend King or any other black Americans who are only attempting to enjoy their rights as free human beings. That you and your Ku Klux Klan friends will be met with maximum physical retaliation from those of us who are not hand-cuffed by the disarming philosophy of nonviolence and who believe in asserting our right of self-defense - by any means necessary. [3] ”

The Washington DC Police department looked for black police officers from around the country to protect King during the march and speeches.[4] They thought the presence of black officers would be more calming if trouble broke out.[4]

March On Washington For Jobs And Freedom Media

  • Photograph of White House Meeting with Civil Rights Leaders. June 22, 1963 - NARA - 194190 (no border).tif

    Leaders of the March on Washington meeting with Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy at the White House on June 22, 1963.

  • Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Leaders of the march posing in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln... - NARA - 542063 (cropped).jpg

    Leaders of the march in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln: (sitting L-R) Whitney Young, Cleveland Robinson, A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., and Roy Wilkins; (standing L-R) Mathew Ahmann, Joachim Prinz, John Lewis, Eugene Carson Blake, Floyd McKissick, and Walter Reuther

  • Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Aerial view of Washington Monument showing marchers.) - NARA - 541997.tif

    Aerial view of Washington Monument showing marchers

  • Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Leaders marching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial) - NARA - 542010.jpg

    Close up of some leaders of the March on Washington walking along Constitution Avenue.

  • March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Joachim Prinz 1963.jpg

    Leaders arrived late and linked arms in front of marchers on Constitution Avenue.

  • Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Faces of marchers.) - NARA - 542070.tif

    Nearly 250,000 people marched, including 60,000 white participants

  • March-on-washington-jobs-freedom-program.jpg

    March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom program

  • John Lewis looking up while speaking in the Great Hall of the Libary of Congress on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington 2013.jpg

    John Lewis speaking in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress on the 50th anniversary, August 28, 2013

  • Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site (36233249121).jpg

    Martin Luther King Jr. waving his hand to the crowd after delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech

  • Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Actor Lena Horne, a close-up view.) - NARA - 542057.tif

    Actress/singer Lena Horne was present but excluded from speaking.

References

  1. ↑ "March on Washington". History?A&E Television Network, LLC. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Mathew Ahmann, Executive Director of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, in a Crowd". World Digital Library. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  3. ↑ Strain, Christopher (2005). Pure Fire: Self-Defense as Activism in the Civil Rights Era. University of Georgia Press. pp. 92-93. ISBN 978-0820326870
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Melanie Eversley. "Witnessing the Dream". USA Today. Retrieved 7 March 2016.

Other websites

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