aug 28, 1963 - March on Washington
& the Dream Speech
Description:
Civil rights groups had wanted to organise a march on Washington for some time and detailed planning began soon after the Birmingham march
As the US capital city, Washington DC was the place where Federal government was based
The protestors wanted to show their support for the new civil rights bill being debated
They hoped that, if large numbers marched in support of the bill, the march would force the president and Congress to pass the bill
Organisers were not disappointed - the March on Washington would turn out to be the largest political gathering the US had ever seen
As news of the planned march spread, the Washington authorities were very worried about violence and rioting
President Kennedy tried to persuade the organisers to call it off, but they refused
To keep order, 1,000 extra police were brought in and 2,000 members of the National Guard were placed on stand-by
They were not needed. On 28th August 1963, exactly 100 years after slavery had ended, over 250,000 people both AA and white took part in the march for ‘Jobs and Freedom’
They marched peacefully through the city to the Lincoln Memorial, where the National Anthem was sung followed by prayers, musical performances and speeches. The evens were broadcast to the world live on television
THE DREAM SPEECH
Members from all the groups that had organised the march, including CORE, the NAACP, SNCC and SCLC, delivered speeches to the huge crowd
Martin Luther King was the final speaker - he had agreed to go last because nobody else had wanted to, believing that most of the crowd would have gone home by then. They did not.
Kind used his great skill to deliver a speech that became one of the most famous in history. The speech made references to the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln (the president who ended slavery), the Bible, humns and sermons, and the idea of the ‘American Dream’
It emphasised Martin Luther King as the main leader of the civil rights movement
In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Added to timeline:
USA 1945 - 1974
Date:
