Sixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks to thousands during his"I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.
But in the decades that followed, the rights gains feeding the freedom high felt by Young and others came under increasing threat. A close adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Young went on to become a congressman, a U.N. ambassador and Atlanta’s mayor. He sees clear progress from the time when Black Americans largely had no guarantee of equal rights under the law. But he hasn’t ignored the setbacks.
Organizers intend to remind the nation that the original march wasn’t just about dreaming of a country that lived up to its promises of equality and liberty to pursue happiness. They wanted legislative action then, and they want the same now.“It’s inevitable to me that this nation, as Martin Luther King said, will live out, one day, the true meaning of its creed,” Young declared.
King also said America had given Black Americans a check for equality that had been marked “insufficient funds” in the bank of justice.“They came in ‘63 to say the check bounced,” Sharpton said. “We come in ‘23 … to say the check didn’t bounce this time. They put a stop payment on the check. And we’re coming to say, ‘You’re going to take stop payment off the check, and you will pay your debt.’”
Most Americans say King has had a positive impact on the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center report detailing the results of an opinion survey conducted in the spring. Just over half of Americans say there has been a great deal or a fair amount of progress on racial equality since the original March on Washington.
Today, Black Americans are more educated, they are less disproportionately incarcerated, and they are in more positions of power than they were 60 years ago. But the Black-white wealth gap is larger now than in 1963, the Black homeownership rate has risen only modestly, and younger Black Americans are more often saddled with student loan debts that dim gains made in other areas.
“I was on the staff in New York and was the last person to leave because we were getting people on the buses,” she said. “And as I flew from New York to Washington, I could see that the march would be a success because as far as the eye could see, there were crowds. We weren’t sure how big because there had never been such a large march before, but it was overwhelming.”
At the 1963 march, the late AFL-CIO leader Walter Reuther seemed to predict the current period of political division, retrenchment and violent threats on democracy.
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At March on Washington's 60th anniversary, leaders seek energy of original movement for civil rightsSixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress.
Read more »
At March on Washington's 60th anniversary, leaders seek energy of original movement for civil rightsSixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress.
Read more »
At March on Washington's 60th anniversary, leaders seek energy of original movement for civil rightsSixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress
Read more »
At March on Washington's 60th anniversary, leaders seek energy of original movement for civil rightsSixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress.
Read more »
At March on Washington's 60th anniversary, leaders seek energy of original movement for civil rightsSixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress.
Read more »
At March on Washington's 60th anniversary, leaders seek energy of original movement for civil rightsSixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his resounding call for racial harmony that set off decades of push and pull toward progress
Read more »