March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place on August 28, 1963. It culminated in a gathering at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
Organizing
The march was initiated by A. Philip Randolph who was the International president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, President of the Negro American Labor Council, and Vice President of the AFL-CIO
Planning for the event was complicated by differences among members. Known in the press as "the big six," the major players were Randolph; Whitney Young, President of the National Urban League; Roy Wilkins, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; James Farmer, President of the Congress of Racial Equality; John Lewis, President of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Martin Luther King Jr., the founder and President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Bayard Rustin, a close associate of Randolph's and organizer of the first Freedom Ride in 1947, orchestrated and administered the majority of the details of the march.[1]
Participants
- Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I have a dream" speech at the march.
- Musician Bob Dylan participated in the march and performed his music. His performance is captured in part on the album "We Shall Overcome" which was released in 1964.
- Actor, Charlton Heston
- Actor, Marlon Brando
- Timuel Black, president of the Chicago chapter of the Negro American Labor Council. Largely as a result of Black's work, two "Freedom Trains" left Chicago with 3,000 passengers for that event[2].