The unfinished work of the March on Washington
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 August 2023
⏱️ 32 minutes
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Summary
Sixty years ago, some 250,000 Americans arrived by bus, by train and on foot to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Now, marchers and organizers reflect on the goals of that day — and the work that still needs to be done.
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In 1963, the fight for civil rights reached a pivotal stage. Activist Medgar Evers was murdered, Alabama Gov. George Wallace called for “segregation forever,” and riots in Cambridge, Md., erupted into violence. A few years earlier, the murder of Emmett Till had shaken people across the country.
And on Aug. 28, thousands gathered on the National Mall to call for economic opportunity and something more mercurial — freedom. The march risked the civil rights movement’s viability at a crucial moment, when African Americans faced violent and deadly backlash from police and white supremacists for seeking voting protections and fair treatment in their own country.
The day became iconic — especially the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful speech. But organizers say there was so much more that went into that moment, from organizing buses through the segregated South to making sure microphones worked on the Mall. Washington Post reporter Clarence Williams and his colleagues gathered dozens of interviews with people who were there that day, reflecting on the minute details behind the historic moment, as well as the legacy of the march that became a model for how to demand change in United States.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | As we approach the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, it seems obvious in hindsight |
| 0:25.2 | that this demonstration would go down in history as a huge success. |
| 0:29.9 | A sort of blueprint for peaceful protest. |
| 0:34.0 | I think that one of the things that we try to look back on in an event like this, |
| 0:38.6 | you look back on the success, but you don't understand what a high risk venture this was. |
| 0:43.0 | Clarence Williams is a reporter here at the post. |
| 0:45.9 | He and our colleagues have been working on an oral history, talking to organizers and participants |
| 0:51.3 | who were on the National Mall that day. |
| 0:53.9 | A chief concern for organizers was trying to get people to and home from the March safely without incident. |
| 1:00.1 | There were violent confrontations across the nation as people stood up for their voting rights, |
| 1:04.7 | for their civil rights, and this was a big concern. |
| 1:07.8 | You had a large confluence of people traveling across the segregated south. |
| 1:12.7 | And then there were the more mundane fears, like would anybody show up? |
| 1:17.9 | I know I woke up early and I went down to the mall with buy it. |
| 1:23.7 | Just hours before Martin Luther King Jr. gave that iconic speech to a see of people, |
| 1:29.1 | activist Cortland Cox, an organizer, |
| 1:31.4 | buyered Rustin, looked over the vast empty space before the Lincoln Memorial. |
| 1:36.1 | And there was literally no one on the mall. |
| 1:40.7 | And buy it looked and he said, you know, is anybody coming to this scene? |
| 1:47.4 | So, uncertainty really ruled right up until the moment that people started marching. |
| 1:54.2 | D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton was another organizer of the March, |
| 1:58.2 | and she was in New York that morning organizing all the final logistics, |
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