“When you are in a bus like this at night you are in a closed world. You can’t see what is around you. As the sun comes up you can see the whole freeway. All lanes completely jammed with buses. That’s the moment we knew this march would be a big success.”
Some 40 years ago Bruce Hartford, a student from Connec-ticut, spoke about his bus ride to the March on Washington on Aug. 28,1963. At the time it was the largest demonstration for human rights in U.S. history, with approximately 250,000 participants.
It was during this march that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.
For two days last week, Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III commemorated the 40th anniversary of the march in D.C with several thousand people and over 100 human rights organizations. The organizations were protesting issues as diverse as racism, class warfare, increased U.S militarism, and the destruction of the environment. On the first day of the commemoration, a plaque was revealed to indicate the spot where Dr. King shared his dreams with the people.
Civil rights activist and labor leader A. Philip Randolph organized the 1963 March on Washington. Among his objectives were the integration of public schools and the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The Kennedy Administration initially opposed the march, fearing the mob would become an angry, violent crowd. Randolph said in response, “We are not a mob. We are the advanced guard of a massive moral revolution for jobs and freedom.” Kennedy succumbed.
The march started with a rally at the Washington Monument. People then walked the mile-long national mall to the Lincoln Memorial. A three-hour program commenced in which NAACP leader Roy Wilkins urged Congress to pass an effective Civil Rights bill. Dr. King spoke last. He had four minutes to talk. In the middle of his speech he started improvising and went on for sixteen minutes about his aspirations for this nation.
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
“The Civil Rights Movement is alive and well with new energy from labor, peace, and women’s organizations. We came in Aug. 2003 to demand the same things our parents demanded in 1963-peace, jobs, and justice,” King III said.