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March on Washington
MARCH ON WASHINGTONMARCH ON WASHINGTON. In June 1941, Asa Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, informed President Franklin D. Roosevelt that 100,000 protesters would march on the nation's capital unless the president acted to end racial discrimination in federal government and defense industry employment. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 (barring discrimination in the government and defense industry), thereby averting the march. Randolph revived his idea for a mass march in 1963. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, as it came to be known, addressed issues including high unemployment rates for African Americans, school integration, violence against civil rights activists, and a proposed civil rights bill. Randolph selected Bayard Rustin, a civil rights veteran whom Randolph had mentored, to organize the march. The planners brought together major civil rights groups and leaders from religious organizations and labor unions. President John F. Kennedy, unable to dissuade organizers from carrying out their plans, hesitantly sanctioned the march. On 28 August 1963, 250,000 people walked from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, where they listened to speeches from representatives of the various organizations. At the day's end, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his powerful and memorable "I Have a Dream" speech. The interracial, peaceful assembly demonstrated to the public the influence, unity, and optimism of the civil rights alliance. BIBLIOGRAPHYLevine, Daniel. Bayard Rustin and the Civil Rights Movement. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000. Pfeffer, Paula F. A. Philip Randolph, Pioneer of the Civil RightsMovement. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990. DonnaAlvah See alsoBrotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters ; Civil Rights Movement ; Civil Rights Act of 1964 . |
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"March on Washington." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "March on Washington." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401802530.html "March on Washington." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401802530.html |
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March on Washington
March on Washington (USA) In 1941, President Roosevelt signed an equal employment order designed to strike at racial discrimination in federal employment and forestall a march by 100,000 African Americans on the American capital which had been organized by civil rights leaders. The lesson of the potential symbolic power of a march became clear in the summer of 1963, when 250,000 people gathered in Washington to protest at the lack of equal civil rights for African Americans, listening to speeches and prayers culminating in the ‘I have a dream’ speech of Dr Martin Luther King. There have been several marches since, the biggest of which took place in 1995, under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. It managed to assemble possibly up to a million African American men peacefully under the banner of a Million Man March for moral renewal and Black pride.
Randolph, Asa Philip |
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Cite this article
JAN PALMOWSKI. "March on Washington." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAN PALMOWSKI. "March on Washington." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-MarchonWashington.html JAN PALMOWSKI. "March on Washington." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-MarchonWashington.html |
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March on Washington (1963)
March on Washington (1963). See Civil Rights Movement.
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Cite this article
Paul S. Boyer. "March on Washington (1963)." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Paul S. Boyer. "March on Washington (1963)." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-MarchonWashington1963.html Paul S. Boyer. "March on Washington (1963)." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-MarchonWashington1963.html |
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