March on Washington

1963

A. Philip Randolph already planned a 'March on Washington' in 1941 but never went through with it. In 1963 Martin Luther King and other civil rights leader went to Randolph with the aim of organising a new 'March on Washington' with the aim of showing mass support for, and to also put pressure on the Congress to pass the Civil Rights Bill. The march would be the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and a highly symbolic event. Key organiser Bayard was Rustin and A. Philip Randolph was the director for the march.

NAACP member Roy Wilkins was to a beginning not very fond of the plan since he feared that it would not have any affect on Congress, while SNCC member John Lewis thought that mass sit-ins in Washington would be a good idea in order to persuade Congress. The civil rights leaders later agreed on a compromise, to organise a national protest, where two of the main demands would be for freedom and jobs, but where passing the Cvil Rights Bill would be the number one priority.

President Kennedy - like most Americans - was at first against the march, since he thought that more congressmen would turn against the bill if they were feeling forced to pass it. When Kennedy realised they were going through with the march he made it into his Civil Rights Bill under a certain agreement with the organisers. The march received support from authorities providing the march with white police protection from extremists.

Congress was afraid the protest involved too many black protesters and Rustin was afraid it involved too few (approximately 100,000 black people). Robert Kennedy was afraid that the protest would reflect badly on President Kennedy if it were to have a low turnout, since the President had marked the bill as his. Rustin and King brought in ministers, Catholic priests and Jewish rabbis to protest and to march in the front. Churches organised 200 'freedom' buses and 30 'freedom' trains.

250,000 people attended, most middle-class blacks. Approximately 1/4 of the people were white. It was the largest demonstration in US history and received a lot of media attention. The march involved speeches from all civil rights leaders, whereas one of these was Martin Luther King JR. with his speech 'I have a dream'. The march was peaceful and was broadcasted live in USA and also covered in other countries. The march seen as a success for blacks' civil rights, but contributed to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in november, due to his support of the demonstration. His success Lyndon B. Johnson steered the Civil Rights Bill through Congress as a memory of Kennedy and was passed in 1964.