March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
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Demonstrator at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom |
The
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a large
political rally that took place on
August 28,
1963. It was organized principally by
A. Philip Randolph,
Bayard Rustin and
Martin Luther King Jr. During this March, King delivered his famous "
I Have a Dream" speech at the
Lincoln Memorial. Between 200,000 and 500,000 people were in attendance.
The march caused great concern within the administration of President
John F. Kennedy. It was believed that the march would turn violent
, which could then undermine pending
civil rights legislation and damage the international image of the
United States. It was a major factor leading to the passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the
1965 Voting Rights Act. The march was also condemned by the
Nation of Islam and
Malcolm X, who termed it the "farce on Washington".
Four out of five marchers were
black. The speakers included SNCC leader
John Lewis, civil rights figures such as
Gordon Parks and
Roy Wilkins,
labor leaders such as
Walter Reuther, clergy including
Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle (the
Archbishop of Washington, who gave the invocation), Rabbi
Uri Miller (President of the
Synagogue Council of America) who gave the prayer, remarks by Rabbi
Joachim Prinz (President of the
American Jewish Congress), author
James Baldwin, film stars such as
Charlton Heston,
Sidney Poitier and
Marlon Brando and singers such as
Mahalia Jackson,
Marian Anderson,
Joan Baez and
Bob Dylan (as seen in Scorsese's film
No Direction Home, who performed after
Martin Luther King Jr.'s
I Have a Dream speech).[
1]
An earlier March on Washington had been proposed by Randolph, Rustin, and
A.J. Muste in
1941 to protest racial
segregation in the armed forces. This march was cancelled after President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued
Executive Order 8802.
*
American Civil Rights Movement*
List of protest marches on Washington, D.C.*
I Have a Dream speech
