A. Phillip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr & Bayard Rustin
It Was A Warm, Balmy, 84-Degree Day In Washington, DC On Wednesday August 28, 1963. 250,000 People Marched Down Independence And Constitution Avenues, To The Lincoln Memorial, In What Was The Largest Civil Rights Demonstration In U.S. History.
Long-Time Civil Rights Activist And Founder Of The Brotherhood Of Sleeping Car Porters (The First Black Labor Union To Win A Collective Barganing Agreement And Win A Charter From The American Federation Of Labor), Asa Phillip Randolph, Had Been Threatening To March On Washington Since 1941.
Now In His 70's, He --- Along With Colleague, Bayard Rustin And Supporters From The National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People (NAACP), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE) And The National Urban League, Had Arrived In Force!!
Americans Of Every Color And Persuasion (Including 60,000 Whites), Came To DC In Support Of More Freedom And Jobs For Black Americans, And To Push Congress To Pass The Civil Rights Bill.
Mahalia Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis, Jr., James Baldwin, Eartha Kitt, Bob Dylan, Gordon Parks And Josephine Baker, Were Among The Celebrities Who Took Part In The Historic Rally.
It Was At This Event That Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivered One Of The Most Famous And Most-Quoted Speeches In History, "I Have A Dream."
This Date Will Also Be Remembered As The One On Which Barack Obama Formally Accepts The Democratic Party's Nomination As President Of The United States.
On August 27, 2008, Barack Obama Became The First African American To Be Formally Nominated For President By A Major Political Party.
Click Here To Watch The Documentary About The 1963 March On Washington.
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr. BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS
