#OnThisDay: The 1963 March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Photograph from U.S. Information Agency, Press and Publications Service

August 28, 1963– The March On Washington For Jobs And Freedom

250,000+ Americans came to Washington D.C., for The March On Washington For Jobs And Freedom. The protest became the key moment in the struggle for civil rights in the USA, culminating in Martin Luther King Jr.’s rousing, iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, an eloquent, spirited call for Racial Justice and Equality. It is one of the largest political/social gatherings of humans in history.

In 1941, a march was planned in 1941 by The Brotherhood Of Sleeping Car Porters, proposed by the union’s president, A. Philip Randolph.

During The Great Depression, black Americans benefited less than other groups from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, and they faced unrelenting racial discrimination, even excluded from defense jobs in the early 1940s. Despite his wife’s clear feelings on the matter, FDR had no real interest doing anything about the problem. Randolph called for a March on Washington by 50,000 people. After attempting to persuade Randolph and other black leaders that a march would be bad for the country, FDR issued an Executive Order in June 1941, forbidding discrimination by defense contractors and establishing the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to investigate charges of racial discrimination. The March On Washington was canceled. Nearly two million black people were employed in defense work by the end of 1944. But, it was a limited victory; the FEPC closed shop in 1946.

African-Americans faced continuing discrimination after WW II. Any gains they had made during the war began to slip away. The March On Washington committee continued to meet annually to reiterate their demands for economic equality. The 1960s Civil Rights Movement changed the political climate, and in 1963, African-American leaders began to plan a new March On Washington to encourage the passage of the Civil Rights Act that had stalled in Congress. Again, it was Randolph and his longtime associate, Bayard Rustin, who planned the new March For Jobs And Freedom. They anticipated that they could gather 100,000 participants. President John F. Kennedy had as little enthusiasm for the march as had Roosevelt, but this time the black leaders would not be dissuaded.

The National Association For The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference put aside their differences after decades of rivalry. Black and white citizens were urged to attend, and plans were made to ensure a peaceful event. John Lewis (now the Congressperson for U.S. Georgia’s 5th district, and a leader of The Resistance) and his Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee represented the disillusionment among many Civil Rights advocates. Lewis was scheduled to speak at the march, but in order to preserve the atmosphere of goodwill, leaders persuaded Lewis to omit his harshest criticisms of the Kennedy Administration.

The DC police were fully mobilized for the march with 6000 cops, including reserve officers and deputized firefighters, plus 5,000 National Guard. The Pentagon readied 19,000 troops.

For the first time since Prohibition, liquor was banned in Washington DC. Hospitals stocked extra blood reserves and cancelled elective surgeries. Major League Baseball cancelled two games even though the stadium was four miles from the Lincoln Memorial rally site.

The FBI and the Justice Department refused to provide guards for buses traveling through the South on their way to the March. William Johnson recruited more than 1,000 police officers to serve on this force. The FBI sent infiltrators, and Kennedy put agents in position to cut the power to the sound system in case the speeches became incendiary.

Rustin demanded an expensive sound system, claiming: “We cannot maintain order where people cannot hear“. The system was sabotaged the day before the march. Organizers had difficulty finding anyone to repair it. Attorney General Robert Kennedy demanded that the government fix the system, and it was successfully rebuilt overnight by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

The march was an unprecedented success. More than 250,000 Americans showed up to share a day of speeches and songs by Civil Rights leaders, politicians, clergy and showbiz figures. King’s soaring speech with the phrase I Have a Dream expressed the essence of the Civil Rights Movement. It was the highlight of the day. I remember watching it on our black and white television in real time, and even at nine-years-old, I felt stirred to action.

Also on the bill that day were performances from Peter, Paul and Mary, Josephine Baker, Mahalia Jackson, Odetta, Marian Anderson, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.

He wanted to speak, but openly gay writer James Baldwin was not allowed because the organizers felt his comments would be too inflammatory. Baldwin later commented on the irony of the “terrifying and profound” requests that he prevent the March from happening:

“In my view, by that time, there was, on the one hand, nothing to prevent, the March had already been co-opted and, on the other, no way of stopping the people from descending on Washington. What struck me most horribly was that virtually no one in power (including some Negroes who were somewhere next door to power) was able, even remotely, to accept the depth, the dimension, of the passion and the faith of the people.”

Not one women gave a speech at the March. Male organizers claimed “Difficulty of finding a single woman to speak without causing serious problems vis-à-vis other women and women’s groups…” Josephine Baker addressed the crowd before the official program began. Civil Rights icon Gloria Richardson was on the program, but when she arrived at the stage her chair with her name on it had been removed, and an official took the microphone away after she said “hello”. Richardson, along with Rosa Parks and Lena Horne, was escorted off the podium before Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech.

Rustin, photograph from Library Of Congress, by Stanley Wolfson

What you may not know about this day: the true architect of The March On Washington For Jobs And Freedom was Bayard Rustin, a gay man whose legacy has long been smothered because he was queer. Rustin was a veteran activist with extensive experience in putting together mass protests. With only two months to plan, Rustin established his headquarters in Harlem, with a smaller office in Washington. He and his core staff of 200 volunteers quickly put together the largest peaceful demonstration in USA history. At the 2013 anniversary march, President Barack Obama awarded Rustin a posthumous Presidential Medal Of Freedom. Rustin’s story is a sad story, but fascinating. Rustin: