The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Documentary Footage (1963)

DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EO5JBQ/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=d...

http://thefilmarchive.org/

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (or "The Great March on Washington," as styled in a sound recording released after the event) was a large political rally in support of civil and economic rights for African Americans that took place in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony at the Lincoln Memorial during the march.

The march was organized by a group of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations, under the theme "jobs, and freedom." Estimates of the number of participants varied from 200,000 (police) to over 300,000 (leaders of the march). Observers estimated that 75--80% of the marchers were black and the rest were white and other minorities.

The march is widely credited with helping to pass the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965).

The march was initiated by A. Philip Randolph, the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, president of the Negro American Labor Council, and vice president of the AFL-CIO. Randolph had planned a similar march in 1941. The threat of the earlier march had convinced President Roosevelt to establish the Committee on Fair Employment Practice and bar discriminatory hiring in the defense industry.

The 1963 march was an important part of the rapidly expanding Civil Rights Movement. It also marked the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.

In the political sense, the march was organized by a coalition of organizations and their leaders including: Randolph who was chosen as the titular head of the march, James Farmer (president of the Congress of Racial Equality), John Lewis (president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), Martin Luther King, Jr. (president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Roy Wilkins (president of the NAACP), Whitney Young (president of the National Urban League).

The mobilization and logistics of the actual march itself was administered by deputy director Bayard Rustin, a civil rights veteran and organizer of the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, the first of the Freedom Rides to test the Supreme Court ruling that banned racial discrimination in interstate travel. Rustin was a long-time associate of both Randolph and Dr. King. With Randolph concentrating on building the march's political coalition, Rustin built and led the team of activists and organizers who publicized the march and recruited the marchers, coordinated the buses and trains, provided the marshals, and set up and administered all of the logistic details of a mass march in the nation's capital.

The march was not universally supported among African Americans. Some civil rights activists were concerned that it might turn violent, which could undermine pending legislation and damage the international image of the movement. The march was condemned by Malcolm X, spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, who termed it the "farce on Washington".

March organizers themselves disagreed over the purpose of the march. The NAACP and Urban League saw it as a gesture of support for a civil rights bill that had been introduced by the Kennedy Administration. Randolph, King, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) saw it as a way of raising both civil rights and economic issues to national attention beyond the Kennedy bill. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) saw it as a way of challenging and condemning the Kennedy administration's inaction and lack of support for civil rights for African Americans.

Gospel legend Mahalia Jackson sang "How I Got Over", musician Bob Dylan performed several songs, including "Only a Pawn in Their Game", about the culturally fed racial hatred amongst Southern whites that led to the assassination of Medgar Evers; and "When the Ship Comes In", during which he was joined by fellow folk singer Joan Baez, who earlier had led the crowds in several verses of "We Shall Overcome" and "Oh Freedom". Peter, Paul and Mary sang "If I Had a Hammer" and Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind". Marian Anderson sang at the march as well.

King gave his famous I Have a Dream speech, which was carried live by TV stations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_washington

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[BillionGODSun]

All Power to the People

[AmaryahuBiynah]

@keemulon1 True that! They were tricked by the big six negro leaders and the jews run to grab their hands and sing for a change the same people who caused their anger now thier holding hands!

[christynrachandbri]

You know what he brought people together got them to put their differences aside and think of ways to make it better....and to stand up for what they believed in. and any time someone does that they are ok in my book and it takes a strong person to do that...and just because today's generation throws what past generations have done down the toliet while they sit on their x box's doesn't mean that the powerful people of the past or what they taught us should be forgotten

[christynrachandbri]

You know what he brought people together got them to put their differences aside and think of ways to make it better....and to stand up for what they believed in. and any time someone does that they are ok in my book and it takes a strong person to do that...and just because today's generation throws what past generations have done down the toliet while they sit on their x box's doesn't mean that the powerful people of the past or what they taught us should be forgotten

[rdw7300]

@christynrachandbri I'm interested in what you think his contribution to Black advancement was.

[christynrachandbri]

@rdw7300 are you serious you don't know who malcom x is ? or what he did ?? smh then just forget about it you don't need to know

[christynrachandbri]

They laid the ground for change no one tricked any one YOU have to figure out how to care for your self YOU have to have the courage to change things you don't like HOW dare you say that a man who died soo you could have librities that he NEVER did SOLD YOU OUT ! You are a disgrace to him !! get off your lazy arse and DO SOMETHING !! Don't blame the people who did at least attempt to make a difference !

[rdw7300]

Tell me what Malcolm did again?

[Herbnsoul]

Nothings changed



[keemulon1]

and still to this day, Negroes do not have any education on how to provide for themselves as far as Economically, Socially, and most definitely POLITICALLY!!! them Niggers got tricked by President Kennedy and Roman Catholic Church.