The idea for a March on Washington began in the 1940s when the March on Washington Movement organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin pressured President Roosevelt into desegregate and prohibit racial discrimination in the military. Roosevelt caved and by 1948 the military was desegregated. After Roosevelt moved on the issue the March movement was placed on the back burner. In 1957 a mini March took place the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. At this event they were calling the government follow through on the Brown v. Board of Education ruling and at the event Martin Luther King Jr. gave his first rousing speech at the Lincoln Memorial “Give Us the ballot” expressing his desire that African American be allowed to vote. This speech established King one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.
Now 1963 was an important year for the Civil Right movement as it was the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation and they wanted to do something. Kennedy’s White House wasn’t doing much and it came to a head when Robert Kennedy met with author, James Baldwin on May 24, 1963. Those with Baldwin thought the Bobby didn’t realize the scope of the situation. One of the cool thing that happened was at the meeting Bobby said that he thought that in 40 year we might have a black President. This meeting made the Kennedy’s take action and about two and a half weeks later on June 11 JFK took to the airwaves and outlined the Civil Rights Act, which would bring Congress in line with the White House and Supreme Court by stating that race has no place in America. This speech turned Civil Right from a legal issue to a moral one.
Planning for the March began in December 1962 and at first President Kennedy opposed the idea of the March as he feared violence would be the only thing to come from it, but after he changed his mind and supported the March saying that it is a “peaceful assembly for a redress of grievances,… I think that’s in the great tradition.” RFK kept an eye on the planning of the March.
The goals set for the March where fairly set most importantly was meaningful civil rights legislation, elimination of school segregation, better housing and laws prohibiting discrimination in hiring. As were the ideas of a nationwide minimum wage, and focusing and broadening laws like getting rid of disenfranchise citizens and to boost the authority for the Attorney General to institute injunctive suits when constitutional rights are violated.
So the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was underway August 28, 1963. The March consisted of 18 things beginning with the National Anthem by Camilla Williams and an Invocation by the Archbishop of Washington Patrick O’Boyle and ending with a benediction by Benjamin Mays. The two big speeches were those by John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and Martin Luther King Jr. John Lewis was one of the youngest speakers at the event and his speech reflected the feelings of the members of SNCC who felt that the inaction of the Kennedy administration to protect Civil Rights workers in the deep south was only a way to placate the white who though the movement had gone far enough.
Lewis’s speech was heavily edited at the behest of religious leaders at the event. Even thought under appreciated the speech still “We march today for jobs and freedom, but we have nothing to be proud of. ” and he urged blacks to join the cultural revolution that is happening and “to stay in the streets of every city, every village, and every hamlet of this nation …until the unfinished revolution of 1776 is complete.” Both of these seem like they could have been said at a speech last week we are still working for the same social and economic justice.
In Martin Luther King Jr’s speech he goes all out echoing all the important document of American History. King begins by calling to mind a great American, five score years ago signed the Emancipation Proclamation yet after 100 years where is the freedom that was promised. King also calls for blacks and white to come together as freedom for both of us is inextricably bound together. If you haven’t read or heard the full speech it is one of the necessary for everyone. After the March President Kennedy met with the speakers in the Oval Office.
Over the past couple of months there have been plenty of article out that talk about how many of the issue that were championed for are not anywhere close to being solved. The Economic Policy Institute has some interesting analysis on how things are basically the same for the African American population. This past weekend there was a Realize the dream Rally and today there will be more observances of the March on Washington.
At the Rally to Realize the Dream there were a handful of speeches most of them focused on the Voting Rights Act was repeal by the Supreme Court and how some states are already planning to suppress voting with new voter ID laws. Rev. Al Sharpton spoke out how Congress can bailout everything but Head Start programs get nothing. He also called for more respect for each other especially women and for a end to the proliferation of guns. Sharpton calls for us to give dreams back to the young as dreams are something that can lead to a brighter future. Representative John Lewis called out to all the youths to get up and use their resources like he and other did in the 60s Others spoke about against the Stand your Ground and Stop and Frisk laws in places around the nation.
Today in Washington there are plans to follow in the footsteps of the Marchers 50 years ago. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial there are scheduled speeches from Oprah, Forrest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx, Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama.Also scheduled to be at the event are John Lewis and Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey of Peter Paul and Mary who were also at the March on Washington. I can only guess what will be said later today but it seems likely that there will be a bit about Voter rights and how we need civil right should be for all people, We are bound to hear that the Dream of Martin is not over but we need to have our own dreams to bring the nation forward. At 3 pm there will be a cacophony of bells ringing around the nation as well, since in King’s speech he cried out, “Let freedom ring!”
I hope that we as a nation can take some time today and reflect on the efforts that began with the March on Washington and still are working their way through society 50 years later. Sam Cooke sums it up nicely “It’s been a long, a long time coming/
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will” The word of the first March on Washington echo back to us today we still are complaining about the need for more jobs and the economic disparity between the rich and the poor (I hope that someday soon minimum wage will be a living wage) and a new group of citizens are calling for their own rights.
Deep in the well 