March on Washington

The March on Washington happened on August 28, 1963 and was a march for jobs and freedom. This march was the first to have extensive TV coverage. This march was the largest demonstration ever seen in the nation's capital. In this time 1963 was known for racial unrest and civil rights demonstrations. The march on Washington was attended by 250,000 people and a quarter of those people were white. 

The March on Washington represented a unioin of several civil rights organizations. There were leaders from six different organizations and they were known as the Big Six. These leaders and their organizations were:

1. James Farmer- Congress of Radical Equality (CORE) 

2. Martin Luther King Jr.- Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 

3. John Lewis- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

4. A. Phillip Randolph- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

5. Roy Wilkins- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

6. Whitney Young Jr.- National Urban 

League

The March on Washington had seven demands in mind. These demands were:

1. They wanted passage of meaningful civil rights legislation.

2. They wanted the elimination of racial segregation in public schools.

3. They wanted the protection for the demonstrators against police brutality. 

4. They wanted a major public works program to provide jobs.

5. They wanted a passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring. 

6. They wanted a $2 minimum wage.

7. They wanted self government for the District of Columbia.  

The president at this time was JFK and Kennedy was against the March in the beginning because he felt it would make the legislature vote against civil rights laws. When he found out that the march was going to go ahead as planned he got behind the march and supported it. There was of course resistance to this march and it came from two sides. They were white supremacist like the KKK and civil rights activists who felt it presented a inaccurate spectacle of racial harmony like Malcolm X. The demonstrators marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. 

The March on Washington was civil and peaceful. 

This march is well known for Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Citation:

Ross, Shmuel. "Civil Rights March on Washington." Infoplease. N.p., Oct. 2015. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

Photo Credit:

http://www.eurweb.com/2013/08/nbc-news-mounts-dreamday-project-for-mlk-anniversary/

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/tag/march-on-washington/

http://www.acluohio.org/blog-posts/50-years-of-dreaming

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/marchonwashington.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/2003/08/the-march-on-washington-for-jobs-and-freedom/