Almost 100
years after the "War to Free the Slaves" and the Emancipation
Proclamation, African Americans still suffered from segregation,
racism, and discrimination. Segregated education, with African
American children usually being forced to attend under-funded,
neglected schools, was common and fully legal until 1954, when a
Supreme Court decision,
Brown
versus the Board of Education, ruled racially segregated
schools were inherently unequal.
On December 1st, 1955, a tired Rosa Parks did not
stand up to give her seat on a public bus to a white man, as required
by law. African Americans boycotted the bus service in Montgomery
Alabama for more than a year. A young minister that had recently
moved to Montgomery became the voice of the movement. This began an
new era in the battle for civil rights. It was also the beginning of
the public career of a great American leader,
Reverend
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The summer of 1963 marked a turning point in the fight
for Civil Rights. In communities like
Birmingham,
violence against those that sought equal rights was getting worse.
The Children's
March succeeded in grabbing national and world attention.
People were shocked to see the brutal force that was used on
defenseless, non-resistant children. People were outraged that
thousands of children were being sent to jail for no real crime.
Finally, the world saw Birmingham's Sheriff Connor as a racist,
bigoted symbol for the worst of the "old south."
National politicians and the Kennedy Administration
had not gotten involved in regional battles for Civil Rights.
Traditionally, these were viewed as "State" issues. The Children's
March changed all of this. The Federal Government could no longer
watch silently. The rest of the world was watching. America could
not be a global leader and talk about "freedom" and "justice" abroad
if it did not take care of these issues at home.
March organizers planned to symbolize their demands
for “the passage of the Kennedy Administration Civil Rights
Legislation without compromise of filibuster,” and demand integration
of all public schools by the end of the year. They demanded a federal
program to help the unemployed, and a Federal Fair Employment Act to
ban job discrimination.
According to U.S. New & World Report (September 9,
1963), the organizers of the March on Washington had 9 "demands:"
- Passage of "meaningful" civil-rights
legislation at this session of Congress- no filibusting.
- Immediate elimination of all racial
segregation in public schools throughout the nation.
- A public works program to provide training
and jobs to the nation's unemployed.
- A federal law prohibiting racial
discrimination in hiring.
- A nationwide $2-an-hour minimum wage.
- Withholding of federal funds from programs
in where discrimination exist.
- Enforcement of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the US
Constitution.
- Broadening the Fair Labor Standards Act to
include currently-excluded employment areas.
- Giving authority to the Attorney General
to institute injunctive suits when any constitutional right is
violated.
Organizers expected 100,000-200,000 people to show up. They made
plans for every contingency -- nothing was left to chance. To help
bring people to and from the march, 2,500 buses and 40 trains were
chartered. Outdoor toilets were set up, water fountains, first aide
stations, and nurses were placed along the route of the march. While
the event was organized as a peaceful march, 5,600 police and 4,000
army troops were on hand to oversee the events that would unfold. For
those that could not make the journey to Washington DC, symbolic
marches and events were held across the United States and at American
Embassies around the world.
The march was sponsored by organizations like the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE), Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Urban
League, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and the Negro
American Labor Committee. These organizations were responsible for
raising much of the money to pay for the event. Some labor unions
participated, but the largest labor union, AFL-CIO refused to join.
The march started promptly at dawn, August 28. Over a quarter
million of people started to march towards the Lincoln Memorial,
singing, "We Shall Overcome." As the march continued, the size of the
crowd swelled. By all accounts, it was a peaceful event, without any
incidents. The organizers were grateful for that. The extra
law-enforcement on hand was not needed.
At the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King and a number of civil
rights advocates addressed the crowd. Dr. King delivered his, "I
Have a Dream" speech. However, this was not his only
address that day. Dr. King spoke to crowd a number of times
throughout the event.
Dr. King declared “we will not hate you, but we cannot obey your
unjust laws. Do to us what you will and we will still love you... But
we will soon wear you down by our capacity to suffer. And in winning
our freedom, we will so appeal to your heart and conscience, that we
will win you in the process”
Popular musicians of the day were on hand and scheduled to provide
entertainment throughout the day. Performers included Josh White;
Odetta, Mahalia Jackson; Joan Baez; Bob Dylan; and trio Peter, Paul,
and Mary.
It was a multi-racial crowd, African Americans and whites marching
together, singing, and celebrating the changes that were taking place
in America. After the march, United Auto Workers president Walter
Reuter said the event "was the beginning of a broad policing of
conscience."
The march was a success. Not only did it get people's attention,
the March on Washington engaged and united citizens. Certainly the
people that were present felt energized and enthusiastic about the
work that was yet to be done. Across the nation, those that could
not, did not, or would not attend had to acknowledge that times were
changing.
Initially, the White House was not enthusiastic about the march.
Many felt that if would not help. Afterwards, President John F.
Kennedy saw the event as a tremendous success. It has been reported
that Kennedy met with Dr. King and said, "Now I have a dream."
Meeting with the march's organizers, Kennedy stated, "the cause of
20 million Negroes has not only been advanced by the program conducted
so appropriately before the Nation’s shrine to the Great Emancipator,
but even more significantly is the contribution to all mankind."
Kennedy planned to use the goodwill and momentum of the The March
on Washington to push for and pass the Administration’s
Civil Rights Bill, but Kennedy was assassinated before seeing
the law passed. When Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s vice president,
assumed the presidency; he passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Not only did the march create the political climate that allowed
the enactment of The Civil Rights Bill, The March on Washington made
the world more fully appreciate the determination and skillful way the
Civil Rights Movement was created, organized, and conducted by
talented, motivated African Americans. Those involved with the
movement earned a great deal of respect across this nation and around
the world.
By Bill Breitsprecher
©2006, Breitlinks
All Rights Reserved
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