The March on Washington

Planning the March

Beginning July 2, 1963, civil rights activists gathered in New York City to begin planning the march. Several other important civil rights organizations were at the meeting, including Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, and Baynard Rustin. The group of men formed a list of ten demands for their march. They decided to call it the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It’d call for equal rights in employment, education, housing, and voting.

They worked to raise about $100,000 by soliciting church groups and labor unions, asking celebrities to host fundraisers, and selling buttons. Selling the buttons alone, they raised about $15,000 in one month. The organization mailed thousands of manuals to civil rights organizations and churches, explaining how to prepare for the march and what to do on the day of the march. They distributed pamphlets about the march. The goal was to get at least 100,000 people to come to the march. Rustin held press conferences and speeches, and spoke on the radio and on TV. He gave interviews to magazines and journalists. Rustin made sure everyone in America knew about the march.

The organizers wanted to encourage people from all races to walk with them. They knew it would be stronger if they showed that black people and white people were not always “locked in mortal warfare.” Soon, people of other races joined in to organize the march.

The organizations chartered buses and forty trains for the event. They set up shuttle buses to transport people from the train station to the march site. They set up first aid stations, bathrooms, and security. More than 4,000 police officers and members of the National Guard would be present, and an additional 4,000 army and marine troops would be on call in case they needed additional help. In addition, they had 2,000 marshals, who could help control a crowd without force.

President Kennedy initially didn’t support the march because he felt the timing was wrong. King responded that he has never engaged in any direct-action movement which did not seem ill-timed. The President eventually announced his public support.

Many women were involved in the civil rights movement. But none of them were asked to speak at the event—only men were included. In fact, the women were all asked to march behind the men. Many women thought this was unfair. Anna Arnold Hedgeman, a black woman, and the only woman on the organizing committee was outraged that they weren’t letting any women speak. Even after they agreed to add a tribute to the women who had fought for freedom, they still planned on having a man deliver it. Hedgeman eventually convinced Randolph that a woman should be the one to speak.

The night before the march, the sound system Rustin had set up was sabotaged. Although the march was still planned to continue the next day, it worried the organizers. Would there be more trouble the next day? Could they keep everyone safe?

Important Work

When Melody enters the kitchen, Yvonne is there, making lots of sandwiches. Yvonne explains the sandwiches are for the group taking the bus down to D.C. for the march. They’re leaving that evening, and they’re all bringing food to share. Melody begins to help wrap them.

Yvonne is excited for the march. She explains one of the goals of the march is to make it easier for black people to buy houses, like how their cousins were denied purchasing a house simply because they were black. Yvonne says that hopefully there’ll be thousands of people at the march, and a crowd that big would force the government to change laws all over the country.

When Melody asks if it’ll be as big as the Walk to Freedom march that Dr. King spoke at a few months ago in Detroit. Yvonne smiles, saying that it may be even bigger, and that their goal is that all the TV news programs will cover it. And then after the march, Yvonne will be going back to school. Time goes fast while doing important work.