Jumat, 22 Juni 2018

Sponsored Links

March-on-Washington-for-Jobs-and-Freedom.-1963.jpg (1174×864 ...
src: i.pinimg.com

The March in Washington for Jobs and Freedom , March in Washington , or The Great March on Washington , was held in Washington, DC on Wednesday, 28 August 1963. The aim of this parade is to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. At the parade, Martin Luther King Jr., stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivering his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism.

The parade was organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, who built alliances of civil rights, labor and religious organizations that came together under the banner of "work and freedom." Estimated number of participants varies from 200,000 to 300,000; the most widely cited estimates are 250,000 people. Observers estimate that 75-80% of the demonstrators are black. The parade is one of the largest political rallies for human rights in the history of the United States.

The rally was credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and preceded the Selma Select Rights Movement which led to the ratification of the Right to Act of 1965.


Video March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom



​​â € <â €

Although African Americans have been freed legally from slavery, raised to citizen status and people who were given full voting at the end of the American Civil War, many continue to face social, economic and political repression for many years and enter the 1960s -an.. In the early 1960s, the system of legal discrimination, known as Jim Crow's law, seeped in South America, ensuring that American blacks remained oppressed. They also experience discrimination from business and government, and in some places are prevented from voting through intimidation and violence. Twenty-one countries prohibit inter-racial marriages.

The impetus for the march in Washington evolved over a long period of time, and previous attempts to organize such demonstrations included the March on Washington Movement of the 1940s. A. Philip Randolph - president of the Brotherhood Sleeping Car Porters, president of the Negro American Labor Council, and vice-president of AFL-CIO - was a key instigator in 1941. With Bayard Rustin, Randolph called on 100,000 blacks. workers to march in Washington, in protest at discrimination by US military contractors and demand an Executive Order. Faced with a mass rally scheduled for July 1, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on 25 June. The order established the Committee on Fair Employment Practices and prohibited discriminatory recruitment in the defense industry. Randolph canceled in March.

Randolph and Rustin continue to organize the idea of ​​a mass rally in Washington. They envisioned several major rallies during the 1940s, but all were canceled (despite criticism from Rustin). Their Pilgrimage Prayer for Freedom, held at the Lincoln Memorial on May 17, 1957, featured key leaders including Adam Clayton Powell, Martin Luther King Jr., and Roy Wilkins. Mahalia Jackson appeared.

The 1963 march was an important part of the rapidly growing Civil Rights Movement, which involved demonstrations and non-violent direct action across the United States. 1963 also marks the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference put aside their differences and come together for the parade. Many whites and blacks also come together in the urgency for change in this country.

Violent confrontation broke out in the South: in Cambridge, Maryland; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Goldsboro, North Carolina; Somerville, Tennessee; Saint Augustine, Florida; and in Mississippi. Most of these incidents involved white people who took revenge against nonviolent demonstrators. Many people want to march in Washington, but disagree about how the parade should be done. Some called for the total cessation of the city through civil disobedience. Others argue that the movement must remain nationwide, rather than concentrate its energies on the nation's capital. There is a widespread perception that the Kennedy government did not fulfill its promises in the 1960 elections, and the King described the policy of the Kennedy race as "tokenism".

On May 24, 1963, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy invited African-American novelist James Baldwin, along with a large group of cultural leaders, to a meeting in New York to discuss race relations. However, the meeting became antagonistic, as the black delegates felt that Kennedy did not have full understanding of the race problem in the country. The public failure of the meeting, which came to be known as the Baldwin-Kennedy meeting, underscores the difference between Black American needs and the understanding of Washington politicians. However, the meeting also provoked the Kennedy government to take action on civil rights for African-Americans. On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy gave his famous civil rights speech on national television and radio, announcing that he would begin to push for civil rights law - a law that eventually became the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Mississippi activist, Medgar Evers, was killed in his own driveway, further increasing national tensions surrounding the issue of racial inequality.

Maps March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom



Planning and organization

A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin began planning the parade in December 1961. They envisioned two days of protest, including sit-down and lobbying followed by a rally at the Lincoln Memorial. They want to focus on unemployment and to call for a public works program that will employ blacks. In early 1963, they called the public for "massive March in Washington for work". They received help from members of Amalgamated clothing union Stanley Aronowitz, who garnered support from a credible radical organizer not to report their plans to the Kennedy government. Trade unions offer tentative support for parades that will be focused on the job.

On May 15, 1963, without securing NAACP or Urban League cooperation, Randolph announced "October Emancipation March on Washington for Jobs". He reaches out to union leaders, winning Walter Reuther's support from the UAW, but not AFL-CIO president George Meany. Randolph and Rustin aim to focus on economic inequality, which states in their original plan that "integration in education, housing, transportation and public accommodation will be limited and duration as long as fundamental economic inequalities along racial lines remain." When they negotiate with leaders others, they expanded their stated goals to "Work and Freedom" to recognize a group agenda that focuses more on civil rights.

In June 1963, leaders from several different organizations formed the United Nations Civil Rights Leadership Council, an umbrella group that would coordinate funds and messages. This coalition of leaders, later to be known as the "Big Six", included: Randolph who was elected as the titular leader of the march, James Farmer, president of the Congress of Racial Equality; John Lewis, chairman of the Non-Violence Student Coordinating Committee; Martin Luther King Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Roy Wilkins, president of the NAACP; and Whitney Young, president of the National Urban League. King in particular became famous for his role in the Birmingham campaign and for his letter from Birmingham Jail. Wilkins and Young initially objected to Rustin as the leader for the march, because he was a homosexual, former Communist, and a draft resistor. They eventually accepted Rustin as the organizer's representative, provided that Randolph acted as the lead organizer and managed any political downfall.

About two months before the march, Big Six expanded their organizing coalition with four white men backing their efforts: Walter Reuther, president of the Automotive Workers Union; Eugene Carson Blake, former chair of the National Church Council; Mathew Ahmann, executive director of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice; and Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress. Together, the Big Six plus four are known as the "Big Ten." John Lewis later recalled, "Somehow, somehow, we worked well together, the five of us, plus four, we became like brothers."

On June 22, the committee met with President Kennedy, who warned against creating "an atmosphere of intimidation" by bringing a large crowd to Washington. Civil rights activists insist on holding parades. Wilkins encouraged organizers to override civil disobedience and described this proposal as "a perfect compromise". King and Young agree. Leaders from INTI and SNCC, seeking to take direct action against the Justice Department, endorsed the protests before they were told that civil disobedience would not be allowed. The final plan for March was announced at a press conference on July 2. President Kennedy spoke well in March on July 17, saying that the organizers are planning a peaceful assembly and have been working with Washington, D.C., the police.

Mobilization and logistics are administered by Rustin, a civil rights veteran and organizer of the 1947 Trip Reconciliation, the first of the Freedom Rides to test the Supreme Court ruling that prohibits racial discrimination on an interstate journey. Rustin is an old colleague of Randolph and Dr. King. With Randolph concentrating on building a political coalition of parades, Rustin built and led a team of two hundred activists and organizers who publicized the march and recruited protesters, coordinated buses and trains, provided marshals, and arranged and organized all the logistics details of the mass rally in the nation's capital. During the days leading up to the parade, these 200 volunteers used the ballroom of Washington DC WUST radio station as their base of operations.

The parade is not universally supported among civil rights activists. Some, including Rustin (who collected 4,000 marshal volunteers from New York), feared that it might turn violent, which could undermine pending legislation and damage the international image of the movement. The march was condemned by Malcolm X, a spokesman for the Nation of Islam, who called it a "joke in Washington".

The organizers of March themselves disagreed over the aims of the parade. The NAACP and Urban League see it as a gesture of support for the civil rights bill introduced by the Kennedy Administration. Randolph, King, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) see it as a way of increasing civil rights and economic issues into national concerns beyond the Kennedy bill. The Student Nonviolence Coordination Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) see it as a way to challenge and condemn the inactivity of the Kennedy government and the lack of support for civil rights for African Americans.

Regardless of their disagreements, the group gathered in a set of goals:

  • Part of meaningful civil rights legislation;
  • immediate elimination of school segregation;
  • Public works programs, including job training, for the unemployed;
  • Federal law prohibits discrimination in public or private recruitment;
  • Minimum $ 2-hours per day nationwide (equivalent to $ 16 in 2017);
  • Federal funding cuts from programs that tolerate discrimination;
  • Enforcement of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution by reducing the congressional representation of States that deprive citizens of their rights;
  • The expanded Fair Employment Standard Law for the current work area is excluded,
  • Authority for the Attorney General to institutionalize lawsuits when constitutional rights are violated.

Although in previous years, Randolph had supported the "Negro only" march, in part to reduce the impression that the civil rights movement was dominated by white communists, the organizers agreed in 1963 that whites and blacks marched side by side would create an image which is stronger.

The Kennedy Administration is working with the organizers to plan for March, and one member of the Justice Department is assigned as a permanent liaison. Chicago and New York City (as well as several companies) agreed to set August 28 as "Freedom Day" and give workers time off.

To avoid being perceived as radical, organizers rejected the support of Communist groups. However, some politicians claim that March is communist-inspired, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) produces many reports that show the same thing. In the days before August 28, the FBI called celebrity supporters to inform them of the communist connections of the organizers and advised them to withdraw their support. When William C. Sullivan made a long report on August 23 showing that the Communists failed to infiltrate the civil rights movement, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover rejected the contents. Strom Thurmond launched a prominent public offensive in March as Communist, and chose Rustin in particular as a Communist and a gay man.

The organizers work out the building on West 130th St. and Lenox in Harlem. They promote the parade by selling buttons, displaying two trembling hands, the words "March in Washington for Work and Freedom", union bugs, and August 28, 1963. On August 2, they have distributed 42,000 buttons. Their goal is a crowd of at least 100,000 people.

When parades are being planned, activists across the country receive bomb threats in their homes and in their offices. The Los Angeles Times received a message saying that its base would be bombed unless it printed a message calling the president "Nigger Lover". Five planes were earmarked on the morning of August 28th due to bomb threats. A man in Kansas City called the FBI to say he was going to put a hole between King's eyes; The FBI did not respond. Roy Wilkins was threatened with murder if he did not leave the country.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (article) | Khan Academy
src: ka-perseus-images.s3.amazonaws.com


Convergence

Thousands of people traveled by road, rail, and air to Washington DC on Wednesday, August 28. People from Boston travel overnight and arrive in Washington at 7 am after an eight-hour journey, but others take buses longer than places like Milwaukee, Little Rock, and St. Louis. Louis. Organizers persuaded the New York MTA to run an additional subway after midnight on August 28, and the New York City bus station was busy all night with the peak crowd. A total of 450 buses leave New York City from Harlem. The Maryland police reported that "at 8 am, 100 buses per hour flowed through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel." The United Automobile Workers finance the bus transportation to its 5,000 members, providing the largest single contingent of any organization.

A reporter, Fred Powledge, accompanied African Americans who boarded six buses in Birmingham, Alabama, for a journey of 750 miles to Washington. The New York Times brought the report:

260 demonstrators, of all ages, carry picnic baskets, water jugs, bible and main weapons - their willingness to march, sing and pray in protest against discrimination. They gathered this morning [August 27] at Kelly Ingram Park, Birmingham, where state troops [four months earlier in May] used hoses and dogs to lay down their demonstrations. It was peaceful in Birmingham park as protesters waiting for the bus. The police, now part of a moderate urban power structure, directs traffic around the square and does not interfere with meetings... An elderly man commented on a 20-hour journey, which would have been less comfortable: "You forgot we Negroes have been on the bus all his life We do not have the money to fly on the plane. "

John Marshall Kilimanjaro, a demonstrator traveling from Greensboro, North Carolina, said:

Contrary to mythology, moments early March - arrived there - no picnic. People are afraid. We did not know what we were going to meet. There is no precedent. Sitting in front of me was a black preacher with a white collar. He is an AME preacher. We talked. Occasionally, people on the bus sing 'Oh Freedom' and 'We Shall Overcome', but for the most part there is not much singing. We quietly pray that no violence has occurred.

Other buses show racial tension, as black activists criticize the liberal white participants as friends who are friendly to the weather.

Hazel Mangle Rivers, who has paid $ 8 for his ticket - "a tenth of her husband's weekly salary" - was quoted on 29 August New York Times . The river states that he is impressed with Washington's courtesy: "People are much better here than they are in the South They treat you so much better Why, when I was out there in the white ranks stepped on my foot, and he said "Sorry," and I said, "Of course!" That was the first time that happened to me, I believe it was the first time that white people were really good to me. "

Some of the participants who arrived earlier held a night flame outside the Justice Department, claiming that they had targeted civil rights activists unfairly and that it was too soft on the white supremacy that attacked them.

Security setup

Washington, D.C., the police force was mobilized to full capacity for the march, including the reserve officers and firefighters represented. A total of 5,900 police officers are on duty. The government deployed 2,000 people from the National Guard, and took 3,000 outside troops to join 1,000 people who had been stationed in the area. These additional soldiers were flown by helicopter from bases in Virginia and North Carolina. The Pentagon is preparing 19,000 troops in the suburbs. All the troops involved are ready to implement a coordinated conflict strategy called "Operation Steep Hill".

For the first time since Larangan, the sale of liquor was banned in Washington D.C. The hospital piles blood plasma and cancel elective surgery. The Major League Baseball canceled two matches between Minnesota Twins and the last place of Senator Washington despite the venue, D.C. The stadium, almost four miles from the Lincoln Memorial rally location.

Rustin and Walter Fauntroy negotiated some security issues with the government, gaining consent to private marshals with the understanding that this would not be able to act against outside agitators. The FBI and the Department of Justice refused to provide preventive guards for buses traveling through the South to reach D.C. William Johnson recruited more than 1,000 police officers to serve these troops. Julius Hobson, an FBI informant who served in the security forces in March, told the team to look for an FBI intruder who might act as a provocateur agent. Jerry Bruno, the prelate of President Kennedy, is positioned to cut power to the public address system if there is a smoldering demonstration speech.

Place and sound system

The organizers were originally planned to hold a march outside the Capitol Building. However, Reuther persuaded them to move the parade to the Lincoln Memorial. He believes the Lincoln Memorial will be less threatening to Congress and the opportunity will be right under the gaze of Abraham Lincoln's law. The committee, especially Rustin, agrees to move the site on condition that Reuther pays for a $ 19,000 vote system so everyone at the National Mall can hear speakers and musicians.

Rustin pushed hard for an expensive sound system, maintaining "We can not keep order where people can not hear." This system was acquired and established at the Lincoln Memorial, but was sabotaged on the day before March. The operator can not fix it. Fauntroy contacted Attorney General Robert Kennedy and his civil rights liaison Burke Marshall, demanding that the government improve the system. Fauntroy reportedly told them: "We have several hundred thousand people coming in. Do you want to fight here tomorrow after everything we do?" The system was successfully rebuilt overnight by the US Army Signal Corps.

March On Washington Events: 50th Anniversary Celebrations Kick Off ...
src: s-i.huffpost.com


March

The march commands national attention by preceding regularly scheduled television programs. When the first great ceremony ever began and was dominated by African-Americans, the march was also the first to have completely misunderstood. The dominant expectation comes from the fear of the father against fear. On Meet the Press, reporters baked Roy Wilkins and Martin Luther King about widespread forecasts that "it is impossible to bring more than 100,000 militants to Washington without incident and possibly riots." The Life Magazine stated that the capital suffered "the worst case of invasion aggression since the First Battle of Bull Run." The Pentagon set up 19,000 troops in the suburbs and prisons transferred inmates to other prisons to make room for those arrested in mass arrests; city ​​banned all sales of alcoholic beverages; hospitals make room for riot victims by delaying elective operations. With nearly 1,700 additional correspondents complementing the Washington press corps, the parade attracted a larger media assembly from the inauguration of Kennedy two years earlier. Students from the University of California come together as a black power organization and emphasize the importance of African-American independence struggle. The march included black political parties and William Elite who was one of the many who led the students during the era of the struggle for independence.

On August 28, more than 2,000 buses, 21 rental trains, 10 chartered planes, and countless cars gathered in Washington. All regularly scheduled planes, trains and buses are also fully charged.

Although Randolph and Rustin originally planned to meet the streets of Washington, D.C., the last route in March only covered half of the National Mall. The march begins at the Washington Monument and is scheduled to continue to the Lincoln Memorial with music programs and speakers. Demonstrators were met at the monument by speakers and musicians. Women leaders were asked to march on Independence Avenue, while male leaders marched on Pennsylvania Avenue with the media.

The parade failed to start on time because its leaders met with members of Congress. To surprise the leaders, the group gathered to begin marching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial without them. The leaders met in March on Constitution Avenue, where they connected guns at the head of the crowd to be photographed 'leading the march'.

Marchers should not make their own markings, although these rules are not fully enforced by marshals. Most of the demonstrators carrying pre-made signs, available in piles at the Washington Monument. The UAW provides thousands of signs which, inter alia, are read: "There is no Shelter House on the Path to Freedom," "Equal Rights and Employment NOW," "UAW Supports March Freedom," "in Freedom we are Born, in Freedom we Have to Live, "and" Before we become slaves, we will be buried in our graves. "

About 50 members of the Nazi Party of America protested in retaliation and were quickly disbanded by police. The rest of Washington was quiet during March. Most workers who do not participate live at home. Prison allowed inmates to watch March on TV.

Peter, Paul and Mary Perform at the March on Washington for Jobs ...
src: i.ytimg.com

Speaker

Representatives from each sponsoring organization spoke to the crowd from the podium at the Lincoln Memorial. Speakers (nicknamed "The Big Ten") include The Big Six; three religious leaders (Catholic, Protestant, and Jew); and Walter Reuther's labor leader. None of the official speeches by women; Josephine Baker gave a speech during the early offerings, but the presence of women in the official program was limited to "rewards" led by Bayard Rustin, in which Daisy Bates spoke (see "ostracized speakers" below.)

Floyd McKissick read James Farmer's speech because Farmer had been arrested during a protest in Louisiana; Farmers have written that the protests will not stop "until the dogs stop biting us in the South and the rats stop biting us in the North."

The actual sequence of speakers is as follows: 1. A. Philip Randolph - Director of March, 2. Walter Reuther - UAW, AFL-CIO, 3. Roy Wilkins - NAACP, 4. John Lewis - SNCC, 5. Daisy Bates - Little Rock , Arkansas, 6. Dr. Eugene Carson Blake - United Presbyterian Church and National Council of Churches, 7. Floyd McKissick-CORE, 8. Whitney Young - National Urban League, 9. Some smaller speeches, including Rabbi Joachim Prinz - Jewish American Congress, Mathew Ahmann - Conference Catholic National, Josephine Baker - actress, and 10. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - SCLC. Then a closing remark by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, Organizers of March, leads with The Pledge and a list of demands.

Official program

Marian Anderson is scheduled to lead the Anthem but can not arrive on time; Camilla Williams appeared in her place. After a prayer by Archbishop Patrick O'Boyle, the opening remarks were given by director march A. Philip Randolph, followed by Eugene Carson Blake. A tribute to the "Negro Woman Fighters for Freedom" was then led by Bayard Rustin, where Daisy Bates spoke briefly at the site of Myrlie Evers, who had missed his flight. The tribute introduced Daisy Bates, Diane Nash, Prince E. Lee, Rosa Parks, and Gloria Richardson. The following speakers were SNCC chairman John Lewis, Walter Reuther's labor leader and chairman INTI Floyd McKissick (replacing CORE director James Farmer who was arrested). Eva Jessye Choir then sang, and Rabbi Uri Miller (president of the Synagogue Council of America) offered a prayer, followed by National Urban League director Whitney Young, director of NCCIJ Mathew Ahmann, and NAACP leader Roy Wilkins. After the show by singer Mahalia Jackson, President of the American Jewish Congress Joachim Prinz spoke, followed by SCLC president Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin then reads the marines' official demands for mass approval, and Randolph leads the crowd in a promise to continue working for the purpose of the parade. The program concludes with a prayer of blessing by the president of Morehouse College Benjamin Mays.

Although one of the official purposes of the march was to support the civil rights bill introduced by the Kennedy Administration, some speakers criticized the proposed law as insufficient. Two government agencies stand in a position to cut power to the microphone if necessary.

Roy Wilkins

Roy Wilkins announced that W. E. B. Du Bois had died in Ghana the night before; the crowd watched the moment of silence in his memory. Wilkins initially refused to announce the news because he hated Du Bois as a Communist - but then insisted on making an announcement when he realized that Randolph would succeed if he did not. Wilkins said: "Despite the fact that in his later years Dr. Du Bois chose another way, it is undeniable that in the early 20th century he was a voice calling you to gather here today in this purpose. read something that goes back to 1963 and gets the volume of The Souls of Black Folk by Du Bois, published in 1903. "

John Lewis

John Lewis of SNCC is the youngest speaker at the event. His speech - which a number of SNCC activists have helped write - made the Administration for duty because of how little has been done to protect the southern blacks and civil rights workers were attacked in Deep South. Removed from his original speech at the urging of a more conservative and pro-Kennedy leader was a phrase like:

With a good conscience, we can not support wholeheartedly the civil rights law of the government, because it is too little and too late....

I wonder what side the federal government is?

The revolution was serious. Kennedy is trying to get the revolution out of the street and put it in court. Listen, Mr. Kennedy. Listen, Mr. Congressman. Listen, fellow citizens. Black mobs are lining up for work and freedom, and we have to tell politicians that there will be no "cold" period.

... We will march through the South, through Dixie's heart, as Sherman did. We will pursue our own scorched earth policy and burn Jim Crow to the ground - without violence...

Lewis's speech was shared with his fellow organizers that night before the parade, gathering opposition from Reuther, O'Boye, and others who considered it too divisive and militant. O'Boyle strongly objected to some of the speeches calling for immediate action and denying "patience." The government and moderate organizers were unable to approve Lewis's explicit opposition to Kennedy's civil rights bill. That night, O'Boyle and other members of the Catholic delegation began preparing a statement announcing their withdrawal from March. Reuther convinces them to wait and summon Rustin; Rustin told Lewis on 2 A.M. on the day of the parade his speech was unacceptable to members of the coalition. (Rustin also reportedly contacted Tom Kahn, mistakenly believing that Kahn had edited a speech and inserted a sentence about Marching Sherman into the Sea.Rustin asked, "How can you do this? Do you know what Sherman did ? ) But Lewis did not want to change the speech, other SNCC members, including Stokely Carmichael, also insisted that the speech was not censored.The dispute continued for several minutes before the talks were scheduled to begin.Under threats of public criticism by religious leaders, and under pressure from the rest of the coalition , Lewis agreed to eliminate the 'inflammatory' section.Many activists from SNCC, INTI and even SCLC were angry at what they deemed censorship of his speech.In the end, Lewis added that eligible support from Kennedy's civil rights law, said: "It is true that we support the Civil Rights Bill of the government. But we support it very well. "Even after minimizing his speech, Lewis called on activists to" enter and live in the streets of every town, every village and village of this nation until true freedom comes. " Martin Luther King Jr.

The speech given by SCLC King's president, who was the last speaker, was known as the "I Have a Dream" speech, which was broadcast live by the TV station and was then considered the most memorable moment of the parade. In it, the King called for an end to racism in the United States. This calls for the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Constitution of the United States. At the end of the speech, Mahalia Jackson shouted from the crowd, "Tell him about his dream, Martin!", And the King departs from the text prepared for the reflection of some improvisations with the theme "I have a dream". Over time has been hailed as a work of rhetoric, added to the National Recording Registry and immortalized by the National Park Service with writing in the place where the King stands to deliver a speech.

Randolph and Rustin

A. Philip Randolph spoke first, promising: "we will return again and again to Washington in increasing numbers until total freedom is ours." Randolph also closed the show along with Bayard Rustin. Rustin followed King's speech slowly reading the list of demands. Both concluded by inviting the audience to take various actions to support the struggle.

Walter Reuther

Walter Reuther urged Americans to pressure their politicians to act to address racial injustice. He says,

American democracy is being judged in the eyes of the world... We can not successfully proclaim democracy in the world unless we first practice democracy at home. American democracy will lack moral and unequal credibility and it is unfit to lead the power of freedom against tyrannical forces unless we take bold, affirmative, and sufficient steps to bridge the moral gap between the noble promises of American democracy and its bad practice in the field of rights civil.

According to Irving Bluestone, who stood near the platform while Reuther spoke, he heard two black women talking. Someone asked, "Who is this white man?" The other replied, "Do you not know him? It's a white Martin Luther King."

Speakers excluded

Author James Baldwin was prevented from speaking in March on the grounds that his comments would be too inflammatory. Baldwin then commented on the irony of the "scary and deep" request that he prevented March from happening:

In my view, at that moment, there was, on the one hand, nothing to prevent - March had been co-opted - and, on the other hand, there was no way to stop people from descending to Washington. What strikes me most is that almost no one in power (including some blacks or Negroes who are in a place next to power) is capable, even remotely, to accept the depth, dimension, passion and faith of the people.

Despite protests from organizer Anna Arnold Hedgeman, no woman gave a speech in March. The male organizers attribute this omission to "the difficulty of finding single women to speak without causing serious problems vis-ÃÆ' -vis women and other women's groups". Hedgeman read the statement at the Aug. 16 meeting, charging:

Given the role of Negro women in the struggle for freedom and especially in light of the extra burden they carry because of the castration of Negroes in this culture, it is remarkable that no woman should appear as a speaker in a historic place. March at the Washington Meeting at the Lincoln Memorial...

The group gathered that Myrlie Evers, the new widow of Medgar Evers, could speak during "Tribute to Women". However, Ny. Evers is not available. Daisy Bates spoke for a while (less than 200 words) in the place of Myrlie Evers, who missed the plane. Previously, Josephine Baker had spoken to the crowd before the official program began. Although Gloria Richardson was in the program and was asked to give a two-minute speech, when she arrived on stage, the chair with the name on it was removed, and the marshal event took her microphone after she said "hello". Richardson, along with Rosa Parks and Lena Horne, escorted off the podium before Martin Luther King Jr. talking.

The initial plan for March will include "Workers Not Working" as one of the speakers. This position is eliminated, advancing criticism of the middle-class bias of March.

March on Washington | National Museum of American History
src: americanhistory.si.edu


Singer

The legend of the Gospel of Mahalia Jackson sings "How I Got Over", and Marian Anderson sings "He Has the Whole World in His Hands". This is not Marian Anderson's first appearance at the Lincoln Memorial. In 1939, Daughters of American Revolution denied permission for Anderson to sing for an integrated audience at Constitution Hall. With the help of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed concert on Easter Sunday, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Joan Baez leads the crowd in several verses "We Shall Overcome" and "Oh Freedom". Musician Bob Dylan performed the song "When the Ship Comes In", which was followed by Baez. Dylan also featured "Only Pawns in Their Game", a provocative and not entirely popular choice because it confirms that Byron de la Beckwith, as a poor whites, was not personally or chiefly to blame for the murder of Medgar Evers.

Peter, Paul dan Mary menyanyikan "If I Had a Hammer" dan Dylan's "Blowin 'in the Wind". Odetta menyanyikan "I'm On My Way".

Some of the participants, including Dick Gregory, criticized the choice of mostly white players and the lack of group participation in the singing. Dylan himself said he felt uncomfortable as a white man who served as a public image for the Civil Rights Movement. After March in Washington, he appeared at several other politicized events soon.

Science Source - March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963
src: www.sciencesource.com


Meet President Kennedy

After March, the speaker went to the White House for a brief discussion of the proposed civil rights law with President Kennedy. Kennedy had watched King's speech on TV and was very impressed. According to the biographer Thomas C. Reeves, Kennedy "felt that he would be mocked in March, and also did not want to meet the organizers before March because he did not want a list of demands.He arranged a 5 pm meeting at the White House with 10 leaders on 28. "March is considered a" victory of the managed protest "and Kennedy feels it is a victory for him as well - strengthening the opportunity for his civil rights bill.

Leaders of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom raise ...
src: c8.alamy.com


Media coverage

Media attention gave the national parade, brought the organizers' speeches and offered their own comments. In his section on The March on Washington and Television News, William Thomas noted: "More than five hundred cameramen, technicians and correspondents from the main network are set to cover the event. More cameras will be prepared than have been filmed inauguration of the last President. One camera is positioned high on the Washington Monument, to give dramatic views of the demonstrators. "The main networks broadcast some of the live broadcasts in March, although they insert interview footage with politicians.The next broadcast is heavily focused on the" I have a dream "section of King's speech.

Voice of America translates speech and re-broadcasts in 36 languages. The United States Information Agency held a press conference for the benefit of foreign journalists, and also made a documentary of the event to be distributed to embassies abroad. Michael Thelwell's comments from SNCC: "So it happened that the Negro students from the South, some of whom are still bruised that are not healed of the electric cattle drugs used by Southern police to split the demonstrations, were recorded for a world screen depicting 'American Democracy IS WORKING. '"

What the Civil Rights Movement Has to Do With Denim - Racked
src: cdn.vox-cdn.com


Responses and memories

Organizer

Although the mass media generally declared the success of March due to the high number of voters, the organizers were not convinced that it would create a change. Randolph and Rustin abandon their belief in the effectiveness of marching in Washington. King maintains the belief that action in Washington can succeed, but stipulates that future marchers need to pay more attention to economic injustices. In 1967-1968, he organized the Poor People's Campaign to occupy the National Mall with a slum city.

Criticism

Malcolm X, a black nationalist, in Message to the Grass Roots speech, criticized the parade, describing it as a "picnic" and "circus". He said civil rights leaders have disbursed the initial goal of the march, which has shown the power and anger of blacks, by allowing white people and organizations to help plan and participate in the parade. One of the SNCC staff commented during the parade, "He denounced us as a clown, but he was there with a clown show." But the membership of SNCC, increasingly frustrated by the tactics of NAACP and other moderate groups, gradually embraced the position of Malcolm X.

Segregationists including William Jennings Bryan Dorn criticized the government for working with civil rights activists. Senator Olin D. Johnston declined an invitation to attend, writing: "You made the worst mistake in promoting this March.You must know that the elements of criminals, fanatics, and communists, as well as crackpots, will move to take every advantage of this mass. will have no effect on members of Congress, including myself. "

Participants

Many participants say they feel March is a historic and life-changing experience. Nan Grogan Orrock, a student at Mary Washington College, said: "You can not help but be swept away by the feelings of March.It is an amazing experience of this mass of humanity with one mind moving on the road.It's like being part of a glacier. collective will in the air. "SNCC's agenda Bob Zellner reports that the event" provides dramatic evidence that the sometimes tranquil and always dangerous work we do in Deep South has a profound national impact. "A quarter of a million supporters and activists gives me the assurance that my work is in the process of dedicating my life to worth doing. "

Richard Brown, then a white graduate student at Harvard University, recalled that March encouraged direct action for economic progress: "Henry Armstrong and I compared the notes I realized the Race Equality Congress might help the dark jobs in Boston by urging companies to rent contractors like Armstrong.He agreed to help start a reliable list of contractors that CORE can promote.It's a simple effort - but it's moving in the right direction. "

Another participant, more sympathetic to Malcolm X and black nationalist, expressed ambivalence. A participant from New York explains:

It's like St. Patrick. I came to respect what my people did, not because I believed it would be useful. I think it will do some good things at first. But when the march began to get all the official approvals of Kennedy, Wasteland, Wagner, Spellman's mastah, and they began to set limits on how we should line up with peacefully, I know that the parade will be a mockery, that they are giving us something more.

Marcher Beverly Alston thinks that the day has had the greatest impact in the movement: "Culturally, there has been tremendous progress over the last forty years, awareness and self-determination have increased." Politically, I do not think we have made enough progress. Ericka Jenkins, fifteen from Washington said:

I saw people laughing and listening and standing very close to each other, almost in a hug. Children of every size, pregnant women, tired looking parents but happy to be there, clothes that make me know that they are struggling to make it day to day, make me know they work in fields or offices or even nearby for government. I do not see teenagers alone; I saw a group of teenagers with teachers The white man stood in wonder. Their eyes are open, they listen . Openness and nothing is maintained - I see it in everyone. I am very happy to see that to whites they can listen and receive and respect and believe in the words of blacks. I have never seen anything like it.

Some people discuss racism to be less explicit after March. Reverend Abraham Woods from Birmingham commented: "Everything has changed, and when you see it, nothing changes, racism is below the surface, and an incident that can scratch it can bring it up."

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Martin Luther King, Jr ...
src: c8.alamy.com


Effects and inheritance

The symbolism of March has been contested since before that even happened. In the years following March, the radical movement subscribed to Malcolm X's story of March as co-optation by a white organization. Liberals and conservatives tend to embrace March, but most focus on King's "I Have a Dream" speech and the legislative success of 1964 and 1965.

The mass media identified King's speech as the highlight of the event and focused on this oration to the exclusion of other aspects. For decades, King became the center of attention in the narrative about March. More recently, historians and commentators have acknowledged the role played by Bayard Rustin in organizing the event.

Political effects

As soon as the speaker concludes their meeting with Congress to join March, the two assemblies passed a law to raise a disputed arbitration council for striking train workers.

March is credited by prompting the US government to act on civil rights, creating political momentum for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Optional Rights Act of 1965.

Democratic government cooperation with civil rights issues marks a crucial moment in voter alignment in the United States. The Democrat Party handed over Solid South - its undivided support since Reconstruction among the separate southern states - and went on to capture the high proportion of votes from blacks from the Republican Party.

Warning Parade

The 1963 March also spurred the birthday parade that happened every five years, with dates 20 and 25 being some of the most famous. The theme of the 25th Anniversary is "We Still Have Dreams... Work * Peace * Freedom."

In the April 2013 parade, President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at Bayard Rustin and 15 others.

Postal label

For the 50th Anniversary, the United States Postal Service released a stamp forever commemorating March 1963 in Washington. The stamps show demonstrators near the Washington Monument with signs calling for equal rights and jobs for all.

Problems

In 2013, the Institute of Economic Policy launched a series of reports on the theme of "The Unfinished March". These reports analyze the purpose of the original parade and assess how much progress has been made. They echo Randolph and Rustin's message that civil rights can not change the quality of life unless accompanied by economic justice. They argue that many of March's major goals - including housing, integrated education, and widespread work on living wages - have not been achieved. They further claim that although legal progress is made, black people still live in concentrated poverty ("ghetto") areas, where they receive low education and suffer from widespread unemployment.

Dedrick Muhammad of the NAACP writes that the inequality of race income and home ownership has increased since 1963 and deteriorated during the recent Great Recession.

Today's Document • usnatarchives: On August 28, 1963, hundreds of...
src: 78.media.tumblr.com


Gallery


What The March On Washington Called For, And What We Got : Code ...
src: media.npr.org


See also

  • List of protest marches in Washington, D.C.
  • Prathia Hall



References

Note

Bibliografi

Further reading


External links

  • March in Washington - King Encyclopedia , Stanford University
  • March in Washington August 28, 1963 ~ Veterans Civil Rights Movement
  • March in Washington, WDAS History
  • The 1963 March on Washington - slideshow by Life magazine
  • The Original Program for March in Washington
  • Martin Luther King's speech, Jr. in March
  • Text annotated from John Lewis's original speech with change
  • March at Washington's 50th Mouth Warning Project, Columbia County Public Library

Videos

  • John Lewis's Speech
  • The short movie "The March on Washington (1963)" is available for free download on the Internet Archive
  • March 1963, from the National Archives YouTube Channel
  • Eyes on March Gifts on Washington video page , PBS , retrieved 2010-09-19

Source of the article : Wikipedia

Comments
0 Comments