Bearing Witness to a Dream Deferred: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
name: label: Collection Collector
content: Maltsby, Portia
label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Program in African American Culture
setName: label: See more items in
content: Program in African American Culture Collection
label: See more items in
content: Program in African American Culture Collection / Series 1: Program Files
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2003 August 22
container: label: Container
content: Box 26, Folder 7
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The program "Bearing Witness to a Dream Deferred" commemorated the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. On August 28, 1963, an estimated crowd of 250,000 to 500,000 people gathered for the historic event. At the time this was the largest and most widely covered political demonstration in American history, and it captured the attention of the United States and the world. People listened to speeches and songs calling for the passage of the Civil Rights Bill, desegregation of schools and housing, elimination of racial discrimination in hiring, job training, an increase in the minimum wage, and the enforcement of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. The finale of the day was Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The program format was a roundtable discussion, followed by audience questions and discussion, and culminating in songs of struggle and freedom by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) freedom singers. 

The program took place in the Carmichael Auditorium at the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution. It was sponsored by the Program in African American Culture in collaboration with the Honorable John Lewis, United States House of Representatives, Georgia (D), the Honorable Reverend Walter E. Fauntroy, Co-Convener, and the 40th Anniversary March on Washington Coalition. 

Participants included:

Reverend Walter E. Fauntroy, pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church, Washington, DC; and president, National Black Leadership Roundtable (NBLR)

Rutha Mae Harris, educator of exceptional students, Monroe Comprehensive High School; and founder of the Albany Civil Rights Museum Freedom singers,  Georgia

The Honorable John Lewis, Congressman, Georgia's Fifth Congressional District, United States House of Representatives 

Charles D. Neblett, first Black elected magistrate, Logan County, Kentucky

The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton,  Delegate for the District of Columbia, United States House of Representatives  

Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ph.D., scholar, composer, singer, activist, and  professor emeritus, history, American University

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Singers, traveled throughout the United States spreading the Civil Rights Message


Program number AC408.121.